Retaliation
by waveform
Summary: There's a new team in town trying to steal Team Possible's thunder. Who are Team Ricochet, what do they want, and what connection do they have with a new criminal? Part of the Fast Track Universe. Stick a fork in this one, because it is DONE!
1. Chapter 1

_Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive._

_--_

"Okay, Wade, we're in," Kim Possible said to the image of Wade Load on the back of her hand. She and Ron Stoppable were on the trail of Camille Leon, and Kim was using a full suite of sensors in her upgraded battle suit to lock onto the biometrics of her shape shifting prey.

"Your suit's sensors are working perfectly," Wade Load replied. "And it looks like we have a lock!" A monitor formed on Kim's left forearm, displaying an arrow pointing to the north east. "That indicator will get brighter the closer you get to Camille."

"You rock, Wade," the redheaded heroine replied. "You ready for this, Ron?"

Her blond haired partner and soon to be husband nodded as his eyes turned a brilliant blue. "Ready to go, KP."

Team Possible was navigating the corridors of the Upperton Convention Center. Rumor had it that Camille was now on the payroll of D. Carter Knokod, and he had ordered her to swipe the jewels and precious gems at the gemologists convention. Although the jury was still out on who Knokod really was, Camille was a known threat. "I really hope this doesn't take long," Ron groused. "I was gonna try out that new souffle recipe I learned today."

"Mmmmmm, yummy!" Rufus squeaked enthusiastically from Ron's pocket.

Kim hid a smirk. She never thought she would see the day when Ron was happy about doing homework, but since he started at the Upperton Institute for the Culinary Arts, he had been more than happy to bring things home to work on. Of course, Kim didn't seem to mind in the least. "Look at it this way, Ron; at least it's after hours and their aren't that many people she can disguise herself as." She looked down at the glowing display on her battle suit. "And we have a Camille detector. It's really no big."

"I'm afraid it is a 'big,' young lady," a voice from behind them said. Kim and Ron turned and saw a very irritated looking security guard blocking the way they just came. "You're under arrest for breaking and entering."

"The convention center's manager asked us to come here, dude," Ron protested. "So no throwing your weight around on us or nothing." Something about this guy didn't feel right to Ron. He wasn't standing right, and the Mystical Monkey Power was giving Ron conflicting ideas about this guy's ability to fight.

Kim, on the other hand, had a smirk on her face. "Hello, Camille," she said.

The guard's body popped and shifted unto the thin body of Camille Leon was standing before them, wearing a now ill fitting guard's uniform. "This like, isn't fair! You weren't supposed to know it was me!"

"We have some new tricks," Kim said.

"So do I." Camille drew the gun from her oversized belt and aimed it at Kim and Ron. Kim's shields surrounded them just a split second before the first bullet hit.

"Can your aura protect you from gunfire?" Kim asked.

"Dunno. I guess it's time to find out."

Ron was about to summon more of the MMP when circular hover carrier came crashing through the ceiling. Three people, two men and a woman, jumped from the strange craft and took up defensive postures. All three of them were wearing skintight black uniforms with a stylized letter 'R' on the right shoulder, and all three wore goggles and face masks. The taller of the men confronted Camille.

"On behalf of Team Ricochet, I order you to surrender."

Kim dropped her shields and watched in disbelief as some new group prepared to take one of her foes into custody. She did, however, notice something familiar about that man's voice.

"Drop your weapon," the female member of the team added.

"Or we'll be forced to drop you." The third was quite muscular, but had an almost gentle voice. All three were holding what looked like the stunners Global Justice cadet agents once used.

Kim was about to fire a grappling line to tie Camille up when the larger of the three newcomers, without provocation, shot Camille with the stunner, causing her to seize up then collapse like a rag doll. "That was so uncalled for!" Kim yelled. "If you'd just cooled your jets and waited a moment I could have tied her up and turned her over to the authorities."

"We are the authorities, Kimmie," the larger man said. He pulled off his mask to reveal the smug face of Rick O'Shea. "Team Ricochet, at your service. I, of course, am Ricochet, and this," he gestured to the lone female member of his team, "is Recoil." The third member strode up and pulled of his mask, revealing an introspective face and dirty blond hair. "I believe you already know Monk."

"Josh?" Kim almost whispered.

"Kim," Josh Mankey grunted. He gave Ron a look that could peel paint. He was a lot bigger than he was just a few short weeks ago when Kim saw him last.

Ron got a weird feeling from Josh. He didn't feel right to Ron's augmented senses, just as Camille hadn't when she had taken the guard's form. "We had this under control, dude."

"You were taking too long," Ricochet sneered. "So we were called in. And we did the job better than you could have."

"At least we didn't destroy a quarter of the convention center," Kim said with a distinct edge in her voice.

"You know what they say about eggs and omelets," Ricochet said with a wave of his hand. "Now get lost before we have to take you into custody, too."

--

"Team Ricochet," Kim grumbled as she slumped onto her living room couch; she was so mad she didn't even bother to change out of her battle suit. She grabbed the remote from the arm of the couch and turned on the news. What was on made her blood boil; it was a profile on Rick O'Shea and his new venture. She quickly changed the channel and got Wade on her suit's Kimmunicator. "Wade, tell me this is a bad dream."

"I wish I could, Kim," Wade somberly replied. "O'Shea's legit. Actually, he's kinda doing what Team Impossible used to do, except he asks for donations from the public to cover costs instead of charging people an arm and a leg for his services. He's operating as a non profit organization. And according to the phone records I dug up, he had been called about coming in and dealing with Camille."

"We were only in there for fifteen minutes," Ron said as he came out of the kitchen. In one hand he had a tray with four hot dogs, and in the other was a tray with the normal condiments and a bag of marshmallows. Ron knew his lady was going to need comfort food. "How could we have been taking too long?"

"I don't know, but the superintendent did call about five minutes after you got in the building."

"Wait, how's that possible?" Kim asked. "The superintendent's in the hospital. He had an emergency appendectomy just this morning."

"You think maybe Camille was in on this?" Ron asked as he put more mustard on his hot dog.

"With Rick involved, I wouldn't be a bit surprised."

--

"You like, left me in jail for a whole hour!" Camille Leon whined. "Do you know how hideous I look in those orange jump suits? And what was the deal with shooting me, anyway?"

"You poor thing," a pale man with a shaved head mocked. He pulled an envelope out of his sport coat and handed it to the shape shifting socialite. "As agreed, 1.5 million has been transferred to your offshore accounts. This is the transaction slip. And there's a 500,000 dollar bonus, courtesy of Mr. Knokod."

"Poppin'! I've never been paid for getting caught before." Camille eagerly stuffed the envelope in her purse, shifted into a taller brunette, and sauntered off. As soon as she was gone, the pale man let out a disgusted grunt. He pulled a cell phone with the Team Ricochet logo on the fold out of his pocket, opened it, and hit the speed dial. "It's Bengal," he said when the call was answered. "She's gone. Finally."

--

Rick O'Shea strolled into his office with a very satisfied look on his face. It was a large room with a long oak desk and a leather couch on the same wall as the door. Conspicuously absent from the decor were any photographic representations of his father. His late mother Audrey, however, was displayed in several pictures.

Rick's Team Ricochet uniform had been replaced by jeans and a t shirt, but he still had the air of a man in complete control about him; something he had picked up from Marcus Mann during his short time in the Fast Track program. Behind him was Rebecca Coyle, also known as Recoil, who had also ditched her uniform for civilian clothing. "That went better than I could've hoped, Rebecca," he said as he grabbed hold of her waist and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

"Mmmmm," she purred. "Perhaps you should show Possible up more often."

"I'm planning on it." He had originally planned to humiliate her as she had done to him, but now he was more in the mood to utterly destroy both her and Ron Stoppable. First he would take all the "save the world" missions she and that fiancee of hers would always go on, and do the job better than they ever could. After that, after Kim Possible was seen as redundant, then the real work would start.

"So, who's the next bad guy we're going to hire?" Rebecca asked.

"I was thinking about bringing in that golfer guy. What's his name?"

"Killigan."

"Duff Killigan." Rick grinned devilishly. "I guess it's time to have Bengal make another offer for Mr. Knokod, isn't it?"

--

"Still nothing new on Team Ricochet," Wade Load said from Kim's wrist Kimmunicator. "Well, they did capture Duff Killigan yesterday before he could turn Death Valley into a giant sand trap, but other than that, nothing!"

"And Camille?"

"Long gone," Wade replied.

"At least when we capture someone they stay captured for more than an hour," Kim groused. "And we're sure she was working for Knokod?"

"With Knokod we can't be sure of anything." D. Carter Knokod was a cross between a super villain and a crime lord, with more money than the Seniors and Martin Smarty combined. No one had ever spoken to him, seen him, or even been in the same time zone as he was. There was more proof for the existence of Bigfoot than there was for D. Carter Knokod. Wade was working under the hypothesis that Knokod was an alias, a figurehead for some farther reaching criminal enterprise, but there wasn't much proof of that, either.

"Keep digging, Wade," Kim said. "I have to get to class." Kim strolled with determination over the campus of the University of Upperton. She was coming up on McCorkle Hall when she saw her old Middleton High Cheer Squad teammate Tara King hurrying towards her.

"Kim! Have you seen Josh lately?" the blond woman asked.

"Unfortunately."

"How did he get so big so fast?" Tara wore the look of concern and borderline fear. "I mean, I never even saw Josh lift weights the entire time I knew him, and now he's got the body of a prize fighter! You don't think he's taking something, do you?"

"I honestly don't know, Tara." Kim gave her old friend a sympathetic look. "You really do care about him, don't you?"

"I'm not crushing on him or anything," Tara replied a little too curtly. "I just don't want to see him destroy himself. I mean, I still worry about you and Ron, too."

Kim put a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'll look into it, Tara."

"Thanks, Kim."

"No big." _Maybe it'll give me a look into Rick's little club at the same time. _Kim pressed a few buttons on her Kimmunicator. After a couple of seconds, the batter covered face of Ron Stoppable appeared. "What's the sitch?" she snickered. "Is there a reason you're trying to look like Snowman Hank?"

"Just a minor mishap, KP," he smiled. "Someone here has more problems with the blender than you do."

"I heard that!" a voice from offscreen yelled.

"So what's up, KP?"

"I was just talking to Tara. She's concerned about Josh's new bod. And to be honest, so am I."

"Yeah, something seemed off," Ron agreed. "The ol' mojo was telling me that he was really strong and at the same time he wasn't."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Could you get any more vague?"

"Sorry, KP, it's hard to explain sometimes. But I kept getting some kind of weird feeling about his right hand. Dunno if that helps or not."

"It might. Thanks, Ron. Love you."

"Back atcha, KP."

_--_

"Okay, Joey," the jovial blue skinned man said to the giggling child in his arms. "It's time for QUALITY BONDING TIME WITH DADDY!" This grand proclamation brought even more giggles from the boy in the blue and green onesie.

"Oh no you don't, Drew," an irritated woman with pale green skin declared as she stormed towards the father and son. "I am sick and tired of you disappearing into your little lab with our son every night and not telling me what you're doing!"

"It's a surprise, Sheila," Drew said to his wife with a devious expression. "A surprise that will, if successful, change our lives forever!"

"Like we need more of that," Sheila snorted. "In the last year you got plant powers, we helped save the world from aliens, then we were honored by the United Nations, went straight, got married, started a business and had a kid! How much more change do we need?"

Drew's face took on the look of a sad puppy. "Would you rather that I took no interest in our son at all?"

Sheila looked at the slightly pouting look Drew had on his face, and saw that it was mirrored on Joey's face. "You are so lucky I love you. Go. Just don't blow anything up." As soon as the lab door closed Sheila let out an annoyed snort. "If Kimmie ever teaches them that stupid puppy dog pout, I'll fry her."

--

In just a few short days, Team Ricochet had become media darlings. Their faces were everywhere, and the higher profile they became, the fewer hits Kim had on her site. Since Team Ricochet hit the seen, she'd only had three requests for help, and they were all about cats in trees. Kim was quietly storming to the athletic center when she heard an irritatingly familiar voice calling to her.

"Hey, Kim! Wait up!" it said. When Kim turned her head there was Josh Mankey in all his musclebound glory. "We didn't get to talk much at the convention center." He flexed his muscles. "What do you think of the new me?"

"I try not to." Kim started walking again.

"Come on, Kim, look at me! I'm a god now."

Kim saw the gold band on the middle finger of his right hand and stopped. "No, you're a phoney with a muscle ring." _No wonder Ron's instincts were saying Josh wasn't strong and was strong at the same time._ "If you're trying to impress me, it's so not working."

"Kim, Kim, Kim, you're missing the point." Josh gave her a half grin that used to turn her into putty. It didn't work this time. "We're the wave of the future, Kim. Ricochet's even said that there's room for you in the organization."

"I'll bet," Kim grumbled. "He'd probably try to get into my pants within five seconds if I signed up."

"What?"

"He didn't tell you?" Kim was going to enjoy this. "We worked together in a...vocational program last year. He spent the whole time trying to get me in bed with him. It so didn't work, either."

Josh had the look of a fish out of water. "He wouldn't, I mean..."

"He did, Josh. He's using you, just like he uses everyone. Just like his father did. A word of advice, Josh; get out. Nothing good can come of working with Rick O'Shea. He's as fake as those muscles of yours." Without another word, Kim turned and continued on to the athletic center, leaving Josh behind stammering to himself.

--

"I didn't think it was important, or any of your damn business, Monk," an annoyed Ricochet said when Josh Mankey confronted him about Kim's accusations. "Besides, like you're any better."

"I love her," Josh countered.

"Just keep telling yourself that." Ricochet sat down behind his desk. "Besides, we have more important things to deal with." He pressed the intercom button on his desk. "Mr. Collins, would you come in here please?" The door to the office opened, revealing a pale man in a black business suit. "This is Anderson Collins, Monk. Like us, Ron Stoppable took something away from him. Stoppable made sure that my father went to jail and that my family name was ruined, he stole a glorious victory from Mr. Collins and sent him to jail, and he took the woman you love away from you. I think it's time he paid for it, don't you?"

Josh's outrage was now forgotten, replaced with a desire for revenge. "Yeah. I think you're right."

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Ricochet said as he slammed his fists on his desk in excitement. "We're setting up a little meeting with Ronnie. As soon as it's ready, I'll call you."

Josh nodded and left the office. As soon as he was gone Bengal gave Ricochet a worried look. "That computer brat of Possible's is getting closer to Mr. Knokod."

"Not good," Ricochet mused. "I mean, I knew he would snoop around, I just didn't know that he would get this lucky this soon. How long before he figures it out?"

"Could be weeks, could be within the hour."

"Okay then," Rick said calmly. "Is the contingency plan ready?"

"It is."

A slight grin curled Rick's lips. "Good. Then we're ready."

--

Sheila Gordon-Lipsky was trying to soothe a fussy Joey when the doorbell rang. "Just perfect," she muttered. "Drew! Get the door!"

The shuffling of feet was followed by the sound of the door opening, punctuated with a frantic _"Sheila!!"_

"Now what?" she muttered. When she came to the doorway, she saw her husband of just over a year being handcuffed by Global Justice agents. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"My name is Chief Agent Will Du," a voice from behind the chaos announced.

"I know who you are, Du. What do you want?"

"I'm here to arrest Dr. Drakken," he said in a matter of fact voice. He got in Drew's face and sneered. "Or do you prefer to be called 'D. Carter Knokod?'"


	2. Chapter 2

Panicked. That was the only way Kim Possible could describe the look on the former Shego's face. Panicked. The frantic call she had received from Sheila Gordon-Lipsky was hard to understand until her one time nemesis said that her husband had been arrested by Global Justice. Kim and Ron tore down the freeway to Middleton as fast as the Sloth could go as soon the phones had been hung up. After a quick stop at the Gordon home in Go City so Sheila could leave her young son in the care of his Uncle Warren and Uncle Wyatt, Sheila, Kim, and Ron made for the Go City Global Justice stronghold where Drew was being held, and where Dr. Betty Director was waiting for them.

"This is beyond messed up, cyclops!" Sheila screamed at Dr. Director. "Drew and I went straight! Legit! We even paid our taxes this year! Before the deadline! Do you know how long it's been since we paid taxes?! We didn't even cheat on them!"

"Mrs. Lipsky, please calm down," Dr. Director said in as calm a voice as she could. She gave Kim and Ron a sideways glance to see if there was any way they could calm their one time enemy. They only shrugged. "I found out about your husband's arrest when Wade called me to set up this meeting. You're lucky I was able to get him redirected here instead of being sent to Fort Campbell."

Kim winced. She still couldn't believe that Will Du was a chief agent now, and in charge of the base she was once stationed at as a Fast Track cadet agent. "We appreciate all your help Dr. Director. Don't we, Sheila?"

"Whatever, Princess."

The interrogation had just begun when Sheila burst in with her hands ignited. "Get your damn hands off of him now!"

The guards drew their weapons and trained them at the pale green woman's head.

"Don't you touch her!" A vine sprouted from the back of Drew Lipsky's neck and ensnared the guards and their guns.

"All right, that's enough!" Dr. Director shouted. "Everyone just settle the hell down! I will not have this degenerate any more than it already has. Du!" She trained her lone eye on the chief agent. "I told you that I was to be kept in the loop at all times regarding the Knokod case!"

"Wait, you think Drew's Knokod?" Ron chuckled.

"Yes I do," Du retorted. "I'm sure an amateur like yourself didn't notice that 'D. Carter Knokod' is an anagram for 'Doctor Drakken.' We have him right where we want him," Du added in a smug, superior voice. Then Kim and Ron started laughing at him.

"You're just now figuring that out?" Ron asked between laughs.

"We noticed that, like, months ago," Kim added. "We also know that Drew would just operate as Dr. Drakken again if he decided to go back to being a villain. Emphasis on the word 'if.' Subterfuge is so not his thing."

"What about Diablo Night?" Du protested. "He used misdirection then!"

"And you saw how well that turned out," Drew grumbled. "I never tried anything that sneaky again after that!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Sheila said. This was giving her a headache. "You arrested my husband because this Knokod joker's name is spelled with the same letters as Drew's old alias?" Du nodded in the affirmative. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life! And I heard some petty whack things from Drew back in the day!" She saw the somewhat pained expression on Drew's face. "No offense, honey," she added sheepishly. She still enjoyed yanking Drew's chain, but she didn't take as much joy from antagonizing him to the point of hurtful insult anymore. _Unless he really ticks me off._

"Please tell me you have more to base this on than a coincidence of alphabetical placement." Dr. Director was getting a headache of her own.

"Of course we do. Knokod's arrival caused a great deal of apprehension among various tech firms and financial institutions, which led to more business for their security firm," Du calmly sat down at the interrogation table. "And we learned from our surveillance of the Lipsky home that Mr. Knokod here spends hours at a time in his home lab; working on some new devious new plot, no dount." Du was again looking smug.

"You've been spying on us?" Drew demanded. "This is an outrage!"

"It's standard procedure, Mr. Lipsky," Dr. Director said. "You may have been pardoned, but you're still considered a threat."

"I build security measures now," Drew said in his defense. "I could break into any one of those firms and steal whatever I want from them, but I haven't! And with my plant powers I could do it easily!"

"Yeah," Ron added, "and I doubt that stink free diapers are a threat to global security, you know?"

--

"Mr. O'Shea," Bengal said as he knocked on Rick's office door. "My sources have just informed me that Dr. Drakken has been arrested by Global Justice and is being held in Go City. It looks like they beat that Load brat to the punch. Does this change the contingency plan at all?"

"Global Justice, huh? This works even better. Send a rescue for Mr. Knokod." Rick thought for a moment. "And send Monk to 'stop' it. We do have appearances to uphold, you know. Oh, and how's the progress on our other project?"

"We have a small batch synthesized," Bengal replied. "Just enough for a single dose."

"Perfect!"

--

"No stink diapers?" Will Du asked in disbelief.

"Nnnnnggggggggggrrrrrrrr," Drew groaned. "Stoppable! You weren't supposed to say anything yet!"

"Wait, you knew what he was working on?" Kim was as confused as everyone else.

"It was my idea," Ron proudly declared.

"It was not your idea, Buffoon!"

"It so was," Ron protested. "I was changing Joey one day and I said that stink free diapers would be a badical thing. You just ran with it."

"I did all the hard work, you mean."

"Ron, Drew, so not the time," Kim said, breaking it up.

"You're going to take over the world with stink free diapers?" Du asked, still not believing what was being said.

"I'm not going to take over the world with them," Drew said. "But I am going to make a killing."

"Stink free diapers? That's...that's the most-"

"That's the most brilliant idea you've ever had!" Sheila planted a huge kiss on her husband's lips. "And that explains why you've been taking Joey into the lab with you."

"Well, that and because I do want to spend time with him. I mean, he is my son, after all."

"Stink free diapers?"

"You've never changed our godson, Willie-boy," Ron explained. "'Riper in the diaper' doesn't even begin to do him justice."

"Understatement much?" Kim added.

"They're right," Sheila said. "You try changing my son when he has an upset stomach and tell me that no stink diapers are a bad idea."

"I'm quite pleased, actually," Drew added, reveling in the attention his genius had sparked. "The compound they're made from is hypoallergenic so it won't upset delicate skin, they actually cut down on diaper rash, and they start to biodegrade within a few days of being soiled. It's going to make us millions!"

"Okay, I'm impressed," Dr. Director said. "But I've seen your financial records. Why do this? You don't need the money."

A proud smile crossed the lips of the former arch villain. "The money these diapers bring in will put my son through college. I'm doing this for him."

Suddenly, alarm klaxons sounded throughout the stronghold. "What's going on, Du?" Dr. Director demanded. The chief agent got on his comm link and ordered a status report, but before that report could be made, the floor they were on was rocked by explosions.

The door to the interrogation room was blasted in, and a veritable battalion of grey clad men filed in and converged on Drew Lipsky. "We have you, Mr. Knokod," one of them said in a digitized voice.

"I'm not Knokod!" Drew protested.

"Stink free diapers my foot!" Du yelled. "I need reinforcements to the interrogation room, _NOW!!_"

Ron and Kim, meanwhile, had gone into mission mode. Ron's eyes glowed blue as he tapped into the Mystical Monkey Power. He threw a fist at one of the men and made contact with a very hard skull underneath the hood and full face mask that obscured the intruder's head. On instinct he grabbed hold of an arm and pulled hard. The sound of metal being torn graced Ron's ears as he ripped the limb right out of its socket. "KP! They're robots!"

"Good," Kim replied. "That means you and Sheila don't have to hold back!"

Before Team Possible could leap into action, Josh Mankey in full Team Ricochet regalia, burst in like a freight train. He grabbed Ron by the shoulder and tried to push him away. "Leave this to the pros, loser."

Ron, however, wasn't budging. "Back off, Monkey," Ron spat. "This isn't some second rate villain."

"No, this is D. Carter Knokod trying to get away."

"Shut up!" Sheila screamed. Her hands ignited into a green fury. "No one's taking my husband!"

"They're robots, Sheila!" Kim called to her former nemesis. "Let 'em have it!"

Sheila hurled a plasma blast at one of the men trying to pull Drew through the hole they made in the wall. She blasted the man's arm off, revealing part of a metal endoskeleton. "Robots, huh? This is gonna be fun!"

"Stop!" Josh yelled. "I have this under control." As soon as he said that, one of the robots lunged at him, knocking him back to the far wall of the room. Ron pulled the robot off of Josh and, in a demonstration of but a fraction of the MMP, punched a hole through the robot's midsection, rendering it nonfunctional.

"Either get your head in the game or get out!" Ron snapped. "This is no place for daydreaming."

Kim and Sheila tag teamed the robots trying to abduct Drew. Kim herded them towards Sheila, who blasted them to pieces. Ron took care of the stragglers. Within a few minutes, two dozen attack robots were reduced to piles of scrap. Josh "Monk" Mankey could only watch in amazement. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

Dr. Director stepped forward. "Miss Possible, Mrs. Lipsky, Mr. Stoppable, thank you for your assistance. I think we'll keep Mr. Lipsky in custody." She saw Sheila's hands ignite again. "For his own safety, of course. We should also take you and your son into protective custody, as well. Where is your son, anyway?"

"Safe with his uncles."

"You didn't leave him with Hego." For the first time since she learned that the former Drakken and Shego were going to reproduce, she was worried.

"Are you nuts?" Sheila was deeply insulted. "He's with Wego." Dr. Director sighed with relief. "Like I'd leave him with Hego or Mego. I love my son; I wouldn't subject him to that kind of abuse!"

Josh finally regained the ability to move. The first person he went for was Ron Stoppable. He grabbed Ron by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "What the hell did you think you were doing, Stoppable?" Josh demanded. "I had this under control!"

"Josh put him down now!" Kim demanded.

"Hiding behind the little woman's skirt, Ronnie?"

"I got it, KP," Ron said when he saw Kim about to attack. "If you had it so under control, how come I had to save your biscuit back there? Just because you have that ring, which is a bad guy gizmo, by the way, doesn't make you a big man. Trust me, I know. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. Now, either put me down," Ron's eyes flashed a bright blue, "or I'll make you put me down."

"You better watch yourself, Ron," Josh hissed after returning Ron to his feet. "I can break you in half without even trying. The only reason you're walking out of here in one piece is because I'm letting you. Get in my way again, and you're gonna regret it."

"Is that a threat, Monk?" Dr. Director asked in an angry tone.

"It's a promise."

--

Rick O'Shea sat silently at his desk after hearing Josh's report. "Well," he finally said. "The important thing is that Knokod didn't get away."

"Kim and Ron still interfered." Josh was still mad about that. He was actually regretting not ripping Ron in half when he had the chance. Rick saw the aggression in Josh's body language and gave a slight grin.

"No harm done, Monk. The bad guy's still in custody, and it sounds like you were able to get Shego off the streets, too. Good work. That will be all."

As soon as Josh left the office, Recoil and Bengal came out of a hidden door. "Normally I wouldn't be too happy about Possible showing one of us up, but under the circumstances, I think it went well." He spun his chair to face his companions. "I trust you got footage of everything."

Recoil took a small disc from her pocket. "Right here."

"Perfect!" He allowed himself a small chuckle. "Since he served his purpose, I think it's time for Mr. Knokod to retire, don't you?"

"Wait, he's not real?" Bengal asked.

"A complete fabrication," Recoil replied.

"You made that guy up just to get rid of Drakken?"

"Drakken had a hand in ruining my family's reputation. He originally built that syntho-drone my dad restored, and he helped Possible and GJ track it right to my father's doorstep." Rick leaned back in his chair. "Drakken got off easy."

"How long till we bust your dad out?" Recoil asked.

"Maybe after the next ice age," Rick snorted. "What did the old man ever do for me, anyway? Let's not talk about that right now. I'd rather see what we can do with that little toxin we whipped up."

--

Josh Mankey was still beyond tweaked. Those who knew him had noticed that he was easy to anger since joining Team Ricochet, and most of them attributed it to the stresses of his new job. Tara King, on the other hand, didn't buy that for a second. She was waiting for him outside his residence hall so she could confront him about what was going on. "About time you showed up," she huffed when Josh lumbered up to the entrance. "Night classes were over an hour ago."

"What are you now, my mom?" He flexed his muscles. "It's not like I can't take care of myself. Besides, why do you care?"

"I care, isn't that enough?"

"This coming from the girl who said we were 'drifting apart' right before she dumped me."

Tara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _How did I know he was gonna go there?_ "How close were we, Josh? Really? You were rebounding from Kim, and I still had it bad for Ron. We were just hiding from our feelings. We were using each other!"

"I thought you, of all people, would appreciate why I'm doing this, Tara," Josh said. "I'm going to get Kim back. And after she tosses Ron aside, you can be there to pick up the pieces. Everybody wins, Tara. We all get what we want."

"Kim and Ron won't." This wasn't the Josh Mankey she dated two years ago. "Yeah, I had a crush on Ron. But Kim's _in love with him!_ When I saw those two together at the prom, yeah, it hurt a little. But it also felt right! I never had a chance with Ron! And after he and Kim hooked up, I knew why. I just couldn't compete with that kind of history. And when she told me that they were getting married, I was happy for them. I didn't go all crazy wanting to break them up. I asked if I could be on the guest list!"

"She deserves better than him!" Josh snapped.

"There is no one better for Kim than Ron," Tara calmly replied. "He's stuck with her through thick and thin for most of their lives. We can't come close to that, Josh!"

"Come on, Tara, haven't you been the least bit curious about what might have been?"

Tara sat down on the steps to the residence hall. "Yes, I have," she admitted. "But I would never try to split up two people who love each other as much as Kim and Ron do. And to be honest," _I can't believe I'm saying this,_ "I've been curious about what we could have had. You and me. I really did like you Josh. We were just too hung up on crushes to focus on us. And the sad part is, you still are. If you truly love Kim, you need to let her go. You have to get on with your own life." Tara stood up and started to walk off. "Think about it, Josh. Living in the past won't get you anywhere, and neither will the way you're acting. I don't know what happened to you, but you're not the Josh Mankey I used to know. I don't know who you are anymore."

--

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Wade," Ron Stoppable said as he wandered into the abandoned factory in Middleton's industrial sector. "The ol' monkey mojo's got the heebie jeebies."

"Yeah," Rufus agreed. "Not good."

"I know, Ron, but the hit on the site said there was a Bengal sighting here," Wade countered. "We had to check this out."

"I still don't like this," Ron grumbled. "It's dark out, and Kim's checking a tiger dude sighting across town. This feels really trappish."

"That's not a word, Ron, but you're right," a voice from the darkness called out. Josh Mankey stepped out of the shadows. Rufus saw the oncoming badness and made a hasty retreat into Ron's pocket.

Josh Mankey confidently strode up to Ron and cracked his knuckles. "It's time we had a nice little chat, Ron."

"What, are you gonna 'break me in half' now?"

"Well, well, well," Josh chuckled. "It looks like the loser grew a bit of a spine. I can break you, you know."

"Have you ever killed anyone, Mankey?" The calmness of the question took Josh by surprise. "Because I have. That's not something that's easy to live with, dude, even if it was to save the life of someone you love. So why don't you just run along? It's late and I kinda wanna get home."

"Get home to Kim you mean! You've polluted her long enough, Ronnie. She's mine and I'm taking her back!" Josh lunged at Ron with more speed than someone his size should have been able to go. Ron easily ducked out of the way.

Ron's eyes flared blue. "So that's how you want to play this. Fine by me. Bring it on, Monkey boy!"

"Stop calling me that!" Josh again lunged at Ron, who just stood his ground. At the last second, Ron dove at Josh, grabbing the middle finger of his right hand and squeezing hard, eliciting a small 'crunch.' Ron then let go, grabbed Josh's arm, and threw him at a nearby support beam. When Josh hit the beam his extra muscle mass was gone and his uniform was hanging off of him. He looked down at his now throbbing hand. He pulled off his glove and saw that his muscle enhancing ring was crushed. Josh looked around the factory in confusion. Just mere seconds ago he was in a murderous rage, but now he was a lot calmer, not to mention more than slightly petrified.

Ron was looking down at Josh with disgust. "KP's not some prize to be won, Josh," he said. "You need to get some help or something. You're about a half an inch away from turning into some freaky stalker." Ron caught movement behind him but reacted a split second too late. From out of the darkness the rest of Team Ricochet emerged. Recoil had grabbed his legs, Ricochet pinned Ron's arms behind his back, and from out of nowhere, Bengal appeared with a hypo gun. Ron felt the cold nozzle against the base of his neck, the small punch of something being injected into him, and then dizziness.

Ron stumbled after his assailants released him. He went headfirst into the nearest wall and his bleary eyes struggled to focus on his attackers. Ricochet and Bengal were fading in and out of Ron's vision. "That's what you get, Stoppable," Ricochet gloated. "You shouldn't have sucker punched me or Bengal. And this is Kim's fault, too."

"K...P..."

"That's right; your darling KP. This is her fault for constantly shooting me down. You can thank her for this later. Well, if you live through this, that is. You might not even have a later."

Ron tried to summon the Mystical Monkey Power, but his mind couldn't focus. He took a futile swing at Ricochet right before his world faded to black.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive._

_--_

_What have I done?_ From the moment his muscle ring was crushed, to Ron Stoppable being injected with who knows what by some guy named Anderson Collins, to fleeing with the rest of Team Ricochet before the paramedics could arrive, Josh Mankey kept asking himself that question. He knew Ron wasn't dead; Ricochet had everything under surveillance, and his ears at Middleton Medical Center confirmed that Ron was in critical condition, but alive.

"What are you whining about?" Ricochet had asked. "This is what you wanted, Monk; to take Stoppable down a peg."

"I didn't want to kill him!" He and Ron weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination, although that year they went trick or treating was one of the most fun Halloweens he'd ever had.

"He's not dead," Ricochet calmly reiterated. "Think about it, Monk. We wait a little while, and then you burst in right in the nick of time with the antitoxin. You save his life, and Possible will be, well, grateful. Probably _VERY_ grateful, if you know what I mean."

"What's to stop me from taking the antitoxin now and blowing the lid off of this whole thing?"

Ricochet smirked and pulled a PDA out of his pocket. He pressed a few buttons and the footage of Josh threatening Ron at the Go City Global Justice stronghold played on the diminutive screen. "Then you take the fall for attempted murder."

The light went on in Josh's still muddled mind. "Is that why you brought me on board? To be the scapegoat if things went south?"

"Remember what I said about omelets and eggs, Monk? You can be the egg if you don't play ball. This isn't some kid's game. We're playing for keeps." He gave Josh a hard, cold look. "Trust me, Mankey, you don't want to know what'll happen if you don't get with the program. I own you. Sell me out, and you'll spend the rest of your life in some padded cell somewhere. If you're lucky."

Now Josh was at the hospital, wearing clothes he hadn't worn since he first got the muscle enhancing ring, and was covering his now disheveled hair with a University of Upperton ball cap. No one recognized him as Monk from Team Ricochet, which was just fine with him. He needed to see Ron; needed to see for himself that his victim was still among the living.

When he got to Ron Stoppable's hospital room, his ears were assaulted with an unfamiliar and alien sound. He heard Kim Possible crying. That brought another conversation unbidden from his memory. _"Is that what you wanted? Me to just break down and cry and beg you not to go?" _Kim had said those words to him when he first met up with her again on U of U's campus a little over a month prior. Josh told her that he didn't want that, but deep down, he kind of did. Now he heard her crying, and he didn't like it. Kim was crying and pleading with whatever powers that be not to take Ron Stoppable from her. It was more than Josh could take. He was about to turn and leave when he heard an angry voice behind him.

"That's right, you'd better leave," the voice said.

When Josh looked behind him, he met the venomous stare of Kim's best girlfriend. "Monique, it's not what-"

"Oh I know what it is, Josh!" she snapped. "You came to make sure you did the job right!"

"I don't know what..." and then he saw the naked mole rat sitting defiantly on Monique's shoulder. "That little hairless freak sold me out." _Good thing naked mole rat testimony isn't admissible in court,_ he thought.

"Rufus isn't a freak, but he did sell you out. And so did Wade. The Ronlink was on right up to the point you when guys sucker punched Ron!"

"Then you know that I didn't do it," Josh protested. "I mean, I was there, but-"

"I think you'd better go, young man," another angry voice said. It belonged to a shorter bespectacled man with dark blond hair. He was holding a little Asian girl. "My son is in a coma thanks to you. We could have you arrested right here and now!"

"Then what's stopping you?" Josh asked in a defeated tone.

"I asked them not to," a shaky voice replied. Josh turned to see Kim Possible standing in the doorway of Ron's room, her hair was a mess, her eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks bore the remnants tears. "I'm saving the pleasure of taking you down for myself. And I needed to know why, Josh. Why did you do this?"

"I didn't," Josh replied. He was about to blurt out that it was Bengal and Ricochet who planned the whole thing when Ricochet's threat again echoed in his memory.

"If you didn't, then who did?" Kim demanded. "You were there so you know what happened when the Ronlink cut out. I need to know, dammit!" She lunged at Josh and grabbed hold of his collar. "Answer me!" Kim practically screamed. "Who tried to kill my fiancee?!"

"Kimmie!" Anne Possible was coming down the hall to Ron's room when she heard the commotion. "Let him go, honey. He isn't worth it." Kim turned to her mother and broke down again. She flung herself into her mother's arms and silently wept. Anne looked up at her daughter's former beau. "You should go, Josh. Now."

"But, Dr. Possible, I-"

"You're bad," the little girl in Dean Stoppable's arms said in a furious tone. "You hurt Brother an' made Sister cry."

"Get out of here, Mankey," Monique said, "before one of us does decide to call the cops. Or worse."

Without further protest Josh Mankey sulked off down the hall; the gazes of nurses, doctors and orderlies following him the whole way.

--

"I still don't think it was a good idea to let him wander off like that," Bengal said. "And since he's not wearing one of those rings right now, we can't track him."

"You worry too much, Anderson," Rick O'Shea replied. He had his feet up on his desk. "With the footage we have of his little outburst, and that little threat of mine hanging over his head, Monk won't try anything. Besides, we have bugs all over the place. Police stations, the hospital; we'll know if he rats us out, and then we'll present our own evidence." Rick smiled. He'd had Josh's fingerprints planted on the hypo gun, and had Recoil doctor up a security tape showing Monk injecting Ron with the toxin. "He can't do anything to us."

"What now?" Bengal asked.

"We wait maybe two weeks, then we give Stoppable the antitoxin."

Bengal's eyes grew wide with surprise. "What? I thought we were gonna kill him!"

"I'm not a killer, Anderson," Rick calmly stated. "Besides, it's not like Ronnie-boy's gonna come out of this unscathed. After two weeks, the toxin will have destroyed enough of his muscle tissue that he'll be an invalid for the rest of his life. It'll be worse than killing him."

A predatory smile came to Bengal's face. "You're a cruel and devious man, O'Shea."

"I am what my father made me."

--

Josh had no idea how long he wandered around for. After a small eternity of going where his feet took him, he found himself at the doorstep of the Alpha Phi sorority house a block away from the University of Upperton's campus. Without even thinking about it, he knocked on the door. Tara King answered. "I need help, Tara," he said.

A short time later the two were seated in an outdoor cafe. Josh was staring blankly at his now tepid and mostly forgotten cappuccino. He had just finished spilling his guts and coming clean about everything. Tara looked at her former boyfriend with both horror and concern. "I went to see him," Josh finally said. "He's in a coma. I even got told off by a toddler."

That brought a weak grin to Tara's face. "That was probably Hana." She saw the confusion in Josh's eyes. "Ron's baby sister. His parents adopted her during our senior year. She idolizes her big brother."

"Great," Josh muttered. "I broke two hearts then."

"Three," Tara said in a sad voice. "You broke mine, too. But I know that you're telling me the truth. You need to go to the police or somebody!"

"If I do that I'm as good as fried," Josh said. "O'Shea spelled it out for me. The only reason I'm here is to be the fall guy."

"Then let me go to the police."

"Are you nuts? Team Ricochet probably knows I'm here talking to you! If you go to the cops, I'll still get all the heat for this." Josh leaned forward and rested his face in his hands. "God, Tara, what did I do?"

"You got caught up in what might have been," she sagely replied. Tara wasn't always given the credit she deserved for her brains, which often worked to her advantage. "Listen, I have an idea. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah," he said without thinking. "I do."

"Good, because I think I have a way out of this." She reached for and took Josh's hands. "We'll get you through this. I promise."

--

The only times Kim left Ron's side were when she could no longer ignore nature's call, whenever someone made her go get something to eat, or when she was forced to leave at the end of visiting hours because she wasn't a spouse or family. She sat at Ron's bedside, holding his hand and stroking his hair. Rufus was curled up on his human's chest and fitfully sleeping. "You have this weekend off, Ron, remember?" she quietly asked. "We were going to pay Rabbi Katz a visit so he could help us with our vows, and then we were gonna go get our rings." She tried to smile, but it quickly faded. "You promised me sixty or seventy years, Ron. When I was hospitalized after that mess with Bengal, you told me that I was stuck with you for another sixty or seventy years. I'm holding you to that."

"Kim," a voice from the doorway said. When Kim turned around she saw two people she never expected; a black haired woman who was Kim's height standing beside a slightly taller African American man. "Lynn? Miles? How?"

"Wade called us," Miles Walker said.

"We came as soon as we could," Lynn Corrigable added. Kim gathered them into a tight group hug. "No one messes with Omega 12," Lynn said as she tried to hold in her tears. No one finished the unofficial motto of their old Global Justice training unit. The three former teammates merely stood there, trying to comfort each other as best they could.

--

Wade Load was a man on a mission. After what he saw and heard from the Ronlink when Ron was attacked, and the new information he had just received, he was more determined than ever to crack Team Ricochet's database. But whoever set up their system was good; really good. They had been able to circumvent the filters Wade had set up on Kim's site to lead Ron into a trap, and their firewalls and safeguards were proving difficult for Wade to crack.

So Wade got smart; he was a genius, after all. Instead of looking around in Team Ricochet's files, he looked up the results of Ron's blood work. What he found truly scared him; a toxin that would utterly destroy Ron's muscle tissue if left unchecked. Wade had to work fast, or Ron would be eaten away from the inside. Wade decided to work under the assumption that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; that since Bradley O'Shea had used villain tech he had illegally obtained, maybe his son did, too. After what seemed like days but was in fact a few hours, his searching had borne fruit; he found where the toxin had come from.

_Global Justice confiscated this from the Worldwide Evil Empire years ago_, Wade thought. _Before Gemini could even use it._ _And here's the formula for the antitoxin!_

--

"What are you guys doing here?" Kim finally asked. "I mean, it's good to see you, but-"

Lynn cut her off. "Wade called us and set up a ride. You needed us, so here we are."

"Simple as that," Miles added. "Ron's our friend, Kim. We had to be here."

"As did I," another voice added.

"Yori?" Kim gasped.

"Forgive me for intruding, Kim Possible," Yori said with a bow. "But Sensei had sent me here on other business when I learned of Stoppable-sama's illness. I felt my place was here."

Kim slowly walked up to the ninja who she had, at one time, seen as a rival for Ron's affections. In a move that would have shocked Monique, Kim put her arms around Yori's shoulders and hugger her tightly. "Thank you."

Yori returned the hug and was silent for a moment. "He is a fighter, Kim Possible," she finally said. "He will win this battle as he has many others."

Finally Kim released the lithe ninja. She then realized that Lynn and Miles had no idea who Yori was. Before Kim could think about making introductions, Yori bowed to the other members of Omega 12. "Forgive my rudeness. I am Yori Katahira. I met Stoppable-sama when he was an exchange student at my school several years ago."

"I'm Miles Walker and this is Lynn Corrigable," Miles said, also bowing. "We met Kim in a, um, vocational school last year."

"It is an honor to meet you both."

"Why are you here, Yori?" Kim asked.

"I was to make a delivery, as well as, how you say, personally RSVP Sensei's and my acceptance of your gracious invitation to attend your wedding, Kim Possible. But that is unimportant right now. I am here. Tell me what you need of me."

--

Once again Josh Mankey lumbered down the halls of Team Ricochet HQ; his muscle ring augmented form barely fitting through some of the doors. "There you are, Monk." a curt voice said. "You do realize that you lost a day's pay disappearing like that."

Josh looked over his shoulder at the source of the taunts. "Ask me if I care, Recoil."

"Oooh," Recoil mocked. "Joshie's a little peeved this morning."

Josh grunted and walked off.

"I think Rick needs to turn those rings down a touch," Recoil said to herself.

--

The more Wade learned about this toxin, the less he liked it, especially when he found out that certain medications can make the toxin work faster instead of hindering it. Then he saw what medications had been prescribed to Ron to treat his condition.

"Aw crap!" Wade said out loud. He frantically got on the Kimmunicator. "Kim!" he shouted when the call was answered. "We have a problem! I need to talk to your mom now!" If Wade worked fast enough, they could save Ron before too much damage was done. He just hoped he had found this in time. Wade looked over at a side monitor. He had a plan brewing, but he knew Kim wouldn't like it. _Can't think about that right now,_ he thought. _Ron's the priority!_

--

"Come in." Rick O'Shea, again in his Team Ricochet uniform, was seated behind his desk reading over something on his computer. "What can I do for you, Anderson?" he asked when he saw Bengal walk in. The former underground combatant had a pleased look on his face.

"It seems that Mr. Stoppable has taken a sudden turn for the worse," he said. "It turns out some of the standard medicines make our little poison work faster."

Rick smiled. "Good. I was getting tired of waiting. Get the antitoxin and meet me in the garage in fifteen minutes. And make sure that Monk joins us."

"Are we alerting the proper authorities before or after we cure Stoppable?"

"Do it now," Rick sneered. "It'll be nice to have them there when Josh has his moment of glory. Right before they haul him off."

"We could have a problem, Ricochet," Bengal said. "What if Stoppable remembers that we were there?"

"He was so out of it before he passed out, I doubt he'll even remember getting jumped. But if he does, we'll deal with it. He was under mental distress at the time. His testimony won't be worth much. Besides, I set us up an airtight alibi, just in case."

--

Team Ricochet stormed into the hospital with little fanfare, confidently and quickly making their way to Ron's hospital room. They had called ahead to let the hospital administration know that they had the cure for Ron's condition. Everyone got out of their way.

When they came to Ron's room, Dr. Anne Possible was waiting outside the door. "I think you should get out of the way, Doctor," Recoil ordered. "I mean, you're not Stoppable's attending physician, so you have no say in what we do."

"Oh, but I do," Anne countered. "That young man is my third son, and God willing he'll be the father of my grandchildren. If you hurt him in any way..."

"It can't be worse than what he's already endured, Dr. Possible," Ricochet said. "If it gets any worse, death might be preferable."

Anne scowled and stepped aside. Josh was in the lead with the syringe, but when Team Ricochet entered Ron's room, what they saw stopped them cold; Ron Stoppable was sitting up in his bed, fully conscious, and wearing the most serious of serious faces. Flanking his bed were his parents and Hana, Lynn and Miles, and a very irate looking Kim and Yori, as well as a small cadre of Global Justice agents. "What the hell is this?" Rick asked. "I thought Stoppable was on his deathbed."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ricky-boy," Ron growled.

"Calm down, Mr. Stoppable," one of the agents said. "That's what we wanted you to think, Mr. O'Shea. I'm agent Marissa Vance with Global Justice. Are you aware that the compound Mr. Stoppable was injected with was contraband villain tech?"

"We found that out recently when we discovered the antitoxin," Recoil said. "Which we were damn lucky to find, I might add. How did-?"

"Wade Load," Ricochet said. "He found it." _Damn kid._

"I'm sorry, Mr. O'Shea, but it seems that you have a would be killer in your midst." Agent Vance approached Josh. "Joshua Mankey, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Ron Stoppable."

"What?!" Josh yelped. "But I didn't-"

"We discovered a security tape that showed you injecting Stoppable with the toxin," Agent Vance explained. "And we have Ron's own testimony to the fact that you had ambushed him in that old factory. Remove that muscle ring and put your hands behind your head."

As Josh complied with the agent's orders, Ricochet allowed himself a small grin. _Stoppable may have lucked out, but I still won't be taking the fall for this._

Ricochet didn't notice the look on Kim's face. She glanced at Ron, squeezed his hand, and turned her gaze to her one time teammate. _Two can play this game,_ she thought.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disney owns the characters, I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

Yori flowed silently like ink through the shadows. One moment she was there, the next gone. If anyone saw her, it was only for a brief moment, and only out of the corner of their eye. The night was dark, and she was wearing a head to toe black infiltration suit; not even her eyes were exposed. She surveyed the landscape before her, making full use of the optical enhancements built into the lenses of her hood. There were motion sensors and cameras hidden in various places on the property surrounding the converted warehouse that Team Ricochet used as its headquarters. She smiled. This was going to be easier than she thought.

--

Kim Possible silently made her way from the University of Upperton's athletic center. She was there a lot later than she normally was, but after spending nearly a week at Ron's bedside, she decided that she needed a real workout after her shift was over. Ron was back home where he belonged, and he had Miles Walker and Lynn Corrigable to keep him company, so Kim didn't feel too guilty about being out so late. Besides, that punching bag was so asking for it.

"A little late for you to be out by yourself, isn't it, Kim?" the smug voice of Rick O'Shea asked. He was wearing a blue jacket with the Team Ricochet logo on the left breast pocket, and the name "Ricochet" written in big letters across the back.

"Take a look around, Rick," Kim said in an exasperated voice. "There's plenty of lighting here. Besides, it's only 9:30. There are still other students around, the university PD is only a phone call away, and I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself. Is there a reason you're invading my space?"

Rick smirked. "A little testy, aren't you, Kim? Maybe taking care of Ron is getting to you." He started to leer at her. "Or is he unable to rise to certain challenges since he woke up?"

"Go away, Rick." Kim started walking towards the parking structure.

"Wait a minute!" Rick hurried to catch up to her. "I know things have to be rough right now," he said. "I mean, I know all about the trouble Ron had with the crutches when you took him home."

Kim stopped dead in her tracks. "Are you spying on us?" She wasn't about to mention the fact that the so called "trouble" Ron was having was just him joking around. The toxin he had been injected with was designed to eat away at his muscle tissue, but fortunately Wade found the cure before that happened. What was even more fortunate was the fact that Wade stopped the hospital from putting Ron on a medication that would have sped up the process. The damage to Ron's muscle tissue was almost negligible.

"Call it looking in on an old friend." Rick was leering at her again. "Like I said, I know it can't be easy. I remember when my mom was sick, having to help her get around. It hurts to watch someone you love deteriorate like that."

"Ron's not deteriorating, Rick."

"No, but there's no guarantee that your boyfriend will ever be back to where he was."

"Fiancee," Kim corrected. "As in future husband." She held up her hand and brandished her engagement ring like a talisman. "Don't forget that." _He has no idea that Ron's almost back up to one hundred percent,_ she thought. _They didn't give him nearly a big enough dose to do as much damage as they expected, and I so don't have any intention of saying anything to make them think differently. The last thing I need is them actually doing research._

"All I'm saying is, you're a beautiful and athletic young woman. You need someone who can keep up with you, not hold you back. I can be that someone."

"What about Recoil?"

"What about her?" Rick snorted.

"I've seen the pictures of the two of you together."

Rick gave a slight grin. "We're not even friends," he said. "We're more like colleagues with privileges. But you'd be different." He was laying on the charm as thick as he could, and it seemed to be working. Kim was letting him draw her closer. "You're special, Kim," he said softly. "You can do anything, and I have the means to allow you to do everything you could ever want to do. Imagine what we'd be like together." She was so close that he could feel her hot breath on his earlobe. It sent chills down his spine.

"You know what, Rick?" Kim asked in a sultry voice. She got closer to his ear and whispered, "You make me sick." She pushed him as far away from her as she could.

"What the hell, Possible?!"

"Is this what you would have done if Ron had been crippled by that poison?" she demanded. "Or if he died? You would just swoop right in like some kind of vulture and try to steal me away by preying on my perceived loneliness. You are such the creep, O'Shea! Now get this through your thick skull; I wouldn't let you touch me if you were the last male on Earth!"

"This is your last chance, Kim!" Rick yelled. "You want a real man? Here I am! Walk away and you'll be stuck with that loser for the rest of your miserable life!"

Kim scowled and shot Rick what could only be described as a death stare. "I have a real man at home waiting for me. His name's Ron Stoppable, and he's not a loser! Being with him for the rest of my life isn't a curse, it's a blessing; one I'm so looking forward to. The only loser here is you. Ron wold never resort to taking advantage of a woman to get what he wants. What's that say about you?"

Kim didn't wait for an answer. She just stormed off. Had it not been for the small throng of students that had gathered to watch the unfolding drama, Rick would have pursued her. Instead he turned around and headed for where his limo was parked.

--

The security for Team Ricochet HQ was a joke. A bad joke. Yori had practiced on mock up systems developed by the former criminals Drakken and Shego, and those had been truly challenging; they had stopped her multiple times. Compared to those, this was a cake walk.

She was currently gliding silently through the air vents, her black infiltration suit blending in perfectly with her dark surroundings. Had this building not utilized heat sensors, Yori would have been given a standard battle suit, complete with cloaking abilities. But the cloak generated a lot of heat, and it wouldn't do anything about the infrared sensors. This suit was thermally shielded and was invisible to infrared. Besides, she didn't need help concealing herself. Yori was a ninja; concealment was a way of life.

Yori came to the end of the shaft, and silently removed the grate for the air duct. After a quick sweep of the area, she climbed out. Specialized ridges on her gloves and boots allowed her to climb on the walls and ceiling like a gecko. She was above the range of the cameras, and in no danger of setting off any alarms. The real concern was if someone came down the hall and saw her, so she moved swiftly.

Yori was on her own; any transmissions between her and Wade would be picked up immediately. She had to rely on the heads up display of her eye lenses to show her where to go; lenses that showed the maps Wade had "acquired" from the construction company that remodeled the warehouse, and from sketches of the layout provided by Josh Mankey. _I am close, _she thought. _It is down this hallway._

There was no way to get into the server room from outside of the thick door without the proper security clearance; at least, no way for a human. Yori reached into a pouch on her belt and extracted the perfect infiltration tool: a naked mole rat. "You know what to do, Rufus-san," she said as she handed him a small device the size and shape of a mini disc.

Rufus nodded and jump to the ground. Due to his small size, and the fact that naked mole rats are unique among mammals in that they're pretty much cold blooded, there was little chance of him being detected. Rufus scampered along the ground and came to a small utility panel. Using his strong teeth, he removed the screws that held the panel in place, and then slipped in. What he saw on the other side reminded him of Wade Load's room.

There were racks of servers that filled a room the size of a large lobby. Rufus knew what to look for. Again he took off, scampering towards a CD drive, any drive would do. He quickly and quietly climbed one of the racks until he came to the first available drive. He opened it, popped in the disc, and closed it. Satisfied that his job was done, Rufus made for the panel he had used as a doorway. After putting the panel back the way he found it, he ran over to Yori, who pulled him up to her with a small piece of nylon rope. Yori retraced her steps and left the warehouse unnoticed.

When she was about a mile away from Team Ricochet's headquarters, she activated the Kimmunicator that was built into her suit. "Mission accomplished, Load-san," she said. "The disc was delivered."

"Good work, you two," Wade smiled. "Now I can get into their systems without them knowing."

"What about the disc?" Yori asked. "Surely they will find it the next time to perform any sort of maintenance."

"What disc? It broke down the instant the program was uploaded, and the remains bonded with the molecular structure of the drive itself. They'll never even know we were there."

--

As far as prisons went, this one wasn't bad at all. Josh Mankey sat in the front room of a luxury suite in a downtown Upperton hotel with a canvas on an easel in front of him. He glanced over at a photograph he took of a rather interesting family who were staying in a neighboring suite. The father had blue skin, the mother's was pale green, and their little boy had the most piercing blue-green eyes. Global Justice had been kind enough to provide him with all the art supplies he needed, and he was putting them to good use. _I've never done a family portrait before, _he thought. _I've definitely never done a portrait of former villains._

Josh was profoundly happy that Shego didn't try to char broil him with her plasma for his conduct during the attempted abduction of her husband from the Go City Global Justice compound. This portrait was his way of apologizing to the Lipskys for that little fiasco. _It's gonna take more than a painting to make this up to Kim and Ron,_ he thought. _I really messed things up. I'll be lucky if Kim ever wants to speak to me again after all this. Tara was right. I should've just gotten on with my life._

Josh was about to clean off his brushes in the bathroom sink when there was a series of three knocks at the door. His GJ contact was there a little later than usual. When Josh answered the door, he was surprised to see Agent Marissa Vance with Tara King. "We thought you could use a friendly face," Agent Vance said. "Miss King, enjoy your visit. I'll be back in an hour. Or maybe two." She shot Tara a wink and left. The implications of that wink made Tara blush a deep crimson.

As soon as Agent Vance left, Josh hugged Tara as tightly as he could. "Thank you," he said. "I'm pretty sure you saved my life."

"As Kim would say, no big," Tara replied. She smiled, knowing she was the reason Ron was alive and well, and why Josh was in protective custody instead of being held on attempted murder charges. After Josh had come clean to her about his role in the attack on Ron, Tara went right for Kim's website and gave Wade all the information she had. That led to Wade contacting Global Justice about getting some kind of clemency and protection for Josh, as well as finding the antitoxin to save Ron's life. Ask any member of Team Possible and they would say that Tara King was the real hero in this.

She pulled away and went for the couch while Josh returned to cleaning his brushes. "Speaking of Kim, how did she react to you getting 'arrested.'" The word "arrested" was punctuated with air quotes. Global Justice taking Josh into custody at the hospital was staged for Team Ricochet's benefit.

"She wasn't too happy about it, but she understood" he replied. "Turns out that this was actually her tech guy's idea. He wanted to use my access codes to hack Rick's systems, but those were null and void even before we went to the hospital." Josh lowered his head. "They set me up."

Tara was now standing outside the bathroom where Josh was washing out his brushes. "We figured it out before anything bad could happen. You're in protective custody, and Ron's gonna be fine. Once Kim takes this Ricochet jerk down, everything will be back to normal."

"I hope not," Josh said, almost to himself. "You were right, Tara. I was living in the past. I can't believe how stupid I was! I'd never seen Kim cry before. It was so...alien. And Ron...I really wanted to hurt him, Tara." Josh was shaking now. "I wanted to rip him apart. That stupid ring was giving me roid rage to, like, the millionth power! God, Tara, I can't believe what I was doing."

"It'll be okay, Josh," she insisted. She led him to the couch and sat him down.

"Tara, you remember how you said that you had thought about how things could have been for us?"

"Look, Josh-"

"Hear me out," he said, cutting her off. "I want to get to know you this time. Really get to know you. Do you think we could, you know, give being friends a try?"

Tara gave him a warm smile. "We're already giving it a try."

--

Kim was in a less than good mood when she walked in her front door. Watching her man get his biscuit handed to him at _Zombie Mayhem: Ultimate Undead Annihilation _by Miles Walker did help to cheer her up, though.

"You have a rocket launcher?" Ron said in disbelief. "When did you get the rocket launcher? And the antipersonnel rounds? Dude! You're a walking armory!"

"If you can't take the heat stay out of the zombie infested jungle, Stoppable," Miles said in victory. "Once again, I am the zombie slaying _MAN!_"

Kim smirked at the two of them as she crossed behind the couch. "I'm glad to see you two are keeping yourselves busy." She leaned down and kissed Ron's cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Not as good as I was a few minutes ago," he whined.

"Poor baby," Kim cooed. "Maybe later, if you're good, I can cheer you up a little."

Ron immediately perked up. "I'm all about the cheering up!"

"I'll bet you are," Lynn said from the far end of the couch. She had been watching the game intently. Lynn loved watching people play video games, but watching her boyfriend kick Ron's butt at one was an even bigger treat.

"Any news on our little spy mission?" Kim asked.

"Nothing yet," Miles replied. "Yori and Rufus went in a few hours ago, but that was the last we heard from them." Miles and Lynn had been told that Yori had a knack for getting into places undetected, but not how she came by those skills; Miles and Lynn were smart enough not to ask about it.

"Correction," a voice said. A black clad figure was walking through the door that led to the garage. Yori peeled the mask from her face. "Rufus-san and I were successful. Load-san can now access Team Ricochet's computer network."

Rufus popped out of a pouch on Yori's belt and said, "Yup! We bad!" He jumped to the floor and scampered over to the couch and into his person's waiting hands.

"Good job," Kim said. "Josh and the Lipskys are in protective custody, O'Shea thinks Ron is a lot weaker than he really is, and we have a much bigger team than we did before." She looked at Yori, Lynn and Miles. "Once Wade digs up some dirt, we'll go about finding a way to show these jerks for the frauds they really are."

"You really think O'Shea's behind Knokod, KP?"

"It fits." Kim sat on the arm of the couch by Ron. "Think about it; Wade's sure that this D. Carter Knokod person is an alias. He was supposedly behind Camille Leon committing a jewel heist at the convention center, but then Rick's goons oh so conveniently rush in and take her away, and she escapes an hour later. Same thing with Duff Killigan in Death Valley. That's way too convenient if you ask me."

"Then there was that little trap with me," Ron added. "I don't remember much, but I'm sure that Rick and Bengal were there with Josh."

"And we know that this Josh Mankey did not inject Stoppable-sama with the poison," Yori added. "Load-san's analysis of the hypo gun showed that the fingerprints were forgeries."

"So Rick set Mankey up," Miles said. "Man, I knew he was bad news when we were in Fast Track, but this?"

"Bad road, Miles," Ron said. "Five hundred thousand miles of it!"

"And he's still trying to get in my pants," Kim grumbled. "He was waiting for me outside of the athletic center tonight. He kept saying that I needed a real man, and that Ron wasn't in any condition to keep up."

Ron growled at this. "I really wanna break his nose again."

"I think we should do worse to him for these transgressions, Stoppable-sama," Yori said with a scowl. "Much worse."

"We can't prove any of this," Lynn said, trying to diffuse the tension in the room. "Not yet anyway. What's next, Kim?"

Kim sighed. "I don't know, Lynn. Maybe I'll think of something after Wade's had a chance to go through Team Ricochet's database." She felt Ron's hand envelop hers. She gratefully took hold and squeezed. "For now, Ron keeps a low profile, and I have you and Miles help me out on missions. We keep up appearances."

--

To say Rick O'Shea was livid when he returned to headquarters would be like saying nails down a chalkboard was slightly irritating. He stormed into his office, threw his jacket on the couch, and unceremoniously flopped in his chair. "Awww, did you get shot down again?" Rebecca Coyle, also known as Recoil, asked in a mocking tone. "I told you she wouldn't go for it." Rick didn't even look up at her. "She just doesn't appreciate power, I guess," Rebecca continued. "Kind of a shame, though. I had wanted to get a full report on the festivities." There was no jealousy in Rebecca's voice, but there was a sense of smug satisfaction. She had told Rick that Kim would be even less receptive to his advances now than she had been before, and she was right. Rick just hated to be wrong. Besides, she knew the score. Rebecca was using Rick every bit as much as he was using her.

Possible's latest rebuke wasn't the only reason Rick was in a mood; there was still no official news about the arrest of Drew Lipsky, a.k.a. Dr. Drakken, a.k.a. D. Carter Knokod. The only information he could find was an announcement from Shego's security consulting firm that the Lipskys were on an extended vacation. There was also no news about Josh Mankey's arrest for trying to kill Stoppable. Local law enforcement had announced that they had a suspect in custody for the attempted homicide, but that was it.

"I don't understand," Rick grumbled. "I left a trail of freaking breadcrumbs right to Mankey and Drakken! It's a slam dunk case."

"Maybe you've been watching too many of those cop shows," Rebecca said nonchalantly. "Real life is a whole lot different. A clever anagram does not a villain make. Maybe the cops saw right through it."

"That would mean that Mankey and Drakken are out of reach and there isn't a damn thing I can do to shut them up. Especially Mankey."

"Pretty much!" Rebecca stood up and went towards the door. "It's late, I'm gonna call it a night."

"Want company?" a leering Rick asked.

"Not tonight, baby, I think you've had enough excitement. Besides, I have a headache." She may not have had any illusions about the exact nature of her relationship with Rick, but Rebecca Coyle was no one's second choice or consolation prize.

--

"Again I thank you for allowing me to, how you say, crash with you, Kim Possible."

"No big, Yori," Kim replied. "It's not like we don't have the room." There was plenty of room for Yori, Lynn and Miles to stay with them, provided one party had no problem sleeping on an air mattress in the room Kim and Ron had set aside for Hana. As it turned out, Wade had set Lynn and Miles up with a room at a local hotel, and the couple had decided that they wanted to have some space to themselves. That left Yori in the guest room. Kim was rinsing out a tea cup in the kitchen when Yori came up to her.

"Still, I thank you." Yori seemed uneasy, which made Kim nervous.

"Are you all right, Yori?"

"I am unsure," the ninja replied. "I have a favor to ask of Stoppable-sama."

"Well then, ask away!" Ron announced as he walked into the kitchen.

"I told Kim Possible that I was here to make a delivery when I was informed of your condition, Stoppable-sama. I plan to make that delivery tomorrow. I...request your presence when I make it."

"It would be my honor," Ron happily replied. "Where are we going?"

"To the home of your parents," Yori reluctantly replied. "What I have to deliver is for Han."


	5. Chapter 5

_Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive._

_--_

Professor Dementor was used to Kim Possible showing up to ruin his plans, but this sitch was a new one on him. Standing proudly next to Kim were two people he had never seen before; a young woman with black shoulder length hair, wearing a variant of Kim's mission outfit with a blue long sleeve shirt; and an African American man with a black short sleeve shirt, black BDU pants, and combat boots. Whoever these two newcomers were, to Dementor they looked like they meant business.

"Zo you haff finally ditched ze buffoon, eh, Fraulein Possible?"

"Nah, we're just temporary stand ins," the woman said.

"It takes two people to fill in for Ron Stoppable, you know," the man added.

"Meet Miles Walker and Lynn Corrigable," Kim said. "They've been kind enough to help me out while Ron's on the injured reserve list." Kim dropped into a combat ready stance. "I figured I'd start them off with an easy villain."

"EASY!?" the helmeted madman bellowed. "I am not an EASY VILLAIN!!"

"Oh please," Lynn said. "You always go after the same stuff."

"Pan dimensional vortex inducer, pan temporal vortex inducer, Kim's battle suit, and now this light refractor." Miles shook his head. "Man, you really need to come up with some new ideas."

"MINIONS!!" Dementor shouted. "Show zese buffoon wannabes vhat ve do to HEROES!"

"Bring it on, shorty," Lynn taunted.

Dementor snapped his fingers about a dozen henchmen charged at the temporarily reconstituted Team Possible. Miles felled three with strategic blows to their faces, Lynn kicked one in the stomach, and she hit another one with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Kim ducked out of the path of one henchman, and threw another one into three more who were charging at her. Within seconds all of Dementor's servants were down for the count. Dementor closed his eyes, hung his head, and silently cursed under his breath. "You just can't find good help zese days..."

--

As a ninja, Yori Katahira had been asked to do many difficult, nearly impossible tasks. She has safeguarded a magic sword, rescued her teacher from a genetically modified madman, and retrieved keys to an ancient power from guarded temples wile fighting the guardians of said temples. Once she even did it while tied to Kim Possible. But this was harder than all of those previous missions combined. In fact, it was one of the most difficult tasks she had ever undertaken.

Yori sat silently in the Stoppable's living room with Ron Stoppable by her side. The crutches he had been using to keep up the appearance that he was still recovering after being poisoned were leaning against the wall by the door. Ron's parents, Dean and Dana, were scrutinizing a family photograph that Yori had handed them. It depicted Yori with Sensei and a couple who appeared to be about the same age as Dean and Dana. The older woman in that picture was very visibly pregnant. Yori took a deep breath and continued her story; a story that she had told to Kim and Ron the night before.

"When my mother was pregnant with me there were...complications," she said. "After my birth, Mother was told that she would never again be able to conceive."

"I know how that feels," Dana said. "That's why Ronnie was an only child."

"Then you can imagine her surprise when upon hearing that she was again pregnant." Yori closed her eyes. "I was seventeen years old, and I was thrilled that I would have a little brother or sister to help care for. But it was not to be." Yori tried to keep her composure, but it was getting harder. Rufus climbed on her shoulder and hugged her face. "Thank you, Rufus-san," she smiled. "I will be alright. My father died in a car accident when my mother was in her second trimester. The stress of Father's death, along with the difficulties of the pregnancy took their toll. Mother...died in childbirth." The tears came, and Ron gently put an arm around his friend to comfort her.

"Which is why she told me that Han was like a little sister to her when Kim and me parachuted in to fight Monkey Dude that last time," Ron stated.

"It is because she is my little sister. My precious little sister." Yori wiped her eyes and continued. "As I said, I was only seventeen. I could not care for her, nor could my grandfather. Although Yamanuchi is a safe place, it is not meant for infants. And we desperately wanted Han to have a normal childhood. But that was not to be. Shortly after her birth, her gifts made themselves known. She was to be the Han foretold by legend."

Dean and Dana had been told about Yamanuchi, the Mystical Monkey Power, and the Yono shortly after Monkey Fist's defeat. They still had a hard time understanding it. "But how?" Dana asked. "Ronnie had to stand in the middle of those idols."

"We are of Toshimiru's bloodline," Yori explained. "It was foretold that one of his descendants would be born with great power, and would use that power to battle Yono the Destroyer. Sensei, my grandfather, knew that if she was to battle the Yono, Han would need to be placed with the Ultimate Monkey Master in order to be victorious."

"But why have us _raise_ her?" Dean asked. "Don't get me wrong, Yori, I love Hana just as if she were my own flesh and blood, but why not have Ronald train her to fight this Yono, then take her back to the school afterwards?"

"As I said, Mr. Stoppable, Yamanuchi is no place for infants. We knew that the key to Han's victory was not going to be her fighting skills. The scroll said that 'to love the Han will be your good fortune.' And that is the good fortune of your family. It was your son's love for Han, his desire to give her a happy childhood, that was her strength." Yori looked over at Ron. "Grandfather says that your great strength is your capacity to love, Stoppable-sama. That was true for Han. She did not fight Monkey Fist. To her, it was a game. She was playing and dancing with him. You have given Han that which I and my grandfather cannot; that which my parents would have wanted for her. You are giving her the real childhood she so desperately deserves." Dean was about to hand the photo back when Yori stopped him. "That is for Han when she gets older. I brought that so she can see who her birth parents were, and she can see that they did love her so very much."

"Thank you," Dana said.

"I...I do not want you to think that I am going to try to take her from you," Yori said. "You are her family now. We just...Grandfather and I wanted her to know where she came from."

"Yori," Dean stood up and walked over to her. "You're her family, too. You're her big sister. To us, family is more important than anything. There's no way we'd ever try to keep her from you. You have every right to be a part of her life."

"Besides," Dana added, "she's going to have questions about her culture and her heritage; questions we can't answer. She'll need you and her grandfather for that."

Yori's face lit up and she smiled. "You honor me," she said. "Thank you."

"You honored us by trusting us with your sister's welfare. It's the least we can do." Dean Stoppable's face was warm and sincere.

"What I think my dad's trying to say, Yori, is that you just became part of the family, too."

"Again I thank you," Yori said, tears of joy and relief were in her eyes. At that moment the sound of Hana babbling came over the baby monitor.

"Come on, Yori, let's go see that bondiggety baby sister of ours."

--

"Still nothing?" Rick O'Shea's mood had gone steadily downhill since his little altercation with Kim Possible the previous evening. He somehow knew that Anderson Collins, also known as Bengal, wouldn't have the news he wanted to hear.

"Still nothing," Bengal confirmed. "And we can't get Dr. Director or anyone else from Global Justice to return any of our calls. We can only assume that they know we're up to something."

"We kept Mankey in the dark," Rick said. "And there's no way in hell that Drakken has any clue about what's going on. They have Mankey and Drakken in custody; why haven't they come after us yet?"

"Lack of evidence?" It was the only thing Bengal could think of.

"Probably," Rick conceded. "Fortunately for us, we have that ultimate encryption matrix that we, ahem, acquired from Jack Hench. Imagine the trouble that Load kid could stir up if he was able to get in our system." Rick stood up and walked over to one of the myriad pictures of his mother. "We need to find Mankey and Drakken. They're liabilities now. We need to take them out. Fire up the UEM, Anderson. I want to see if it can break into the Global Justice central database."

--

"I think you two just found your true calling," Kim said as she, Lynn and Miles strolled in her front door. "You so took those henchmen down."

"It was kinda fun, wasn't it?" Miles said to Lynn.

"I don't know if I'd want to do it on a regular basis, but it was a pretty good workout." Lynn looked down at her outfit. "On the plus side, I must say that Monique does good work!"

"Wait till you see what she's come up with for the bridesmaid's dresses," Kim smirked. The four familiar alarm tones of the Kimmunicator interrupted the conversation. "What's the sitch, Wade? Don't tell me Dementor already got sprung?"

"Not this time," Wade Load said. "Ever since Drew was placed into protective custody, there haven't been any Knokod jobs, so no villains are getting early releases. But that's not why I called. I have full access to Team Ricochet's database."

"'Bout time we got some good news," Lynn said as she flopped on the couch. "Find anything good in there?"

"I found out that O'Shea is seriously whacked."

"I could've told you that, Wade," Miles snickered. "I did have the misfortune of sharing a room with that jerk for six months."

"He is smart, though," Wade said. "But lucky for you, I'm smarter. He has pieces of his plans filed in different directories in his system. He didn't hide them nearly well enough, though! As we thought, he was behind Knokod. You wouldn't believe how much money Rick spent getting his figurehead set up. You remember after Rick's dad was arrested that GJ went through his computers and found plans and formulas for villain stuff?" Kim nodded. "Rick has those same files. He must've made copies before GJ got there. That's where he got the formula for that toxin. Lucky for Ron that Rick's people messed up the conversion tables."

"The Ron Factor strikes again," Kim said, relieved that the mistake was made. "Do O'Shea or his cronies know you're in his system?"

"Nope. Thanks to Yori and Rufus, that ultimate encryption matrix won't be able to keep me out of anything ever again. I could plant a virus in his mainframe and he wouldn't know about it until it was too late. In fact, I have one all written and ready to go."

"Not yet, Wade," Kim said. "We need to find some way of airing Team Ricochet's dirty laundry. Ron said he saw Bengal at that factory. If we can somehow link Rick with a wanted fugitive, I don't know, it could be something."

"I'll keep snooping around. If I find anything interesting, I'll let you know." Wade signed off.

"Is it just me, or is this harder than it should be?" Kim and Miles looked over at Lynn. "I mean, this is Rick we're talking about! He was always thinking with his hormones instead of his brain. There is no way he should have been able to come up with something like this."

"He's smarter than he looks, babe," Miles said.

"Unfortunately, that's very true," Kim agreed. "He did come up with that elaborate plot to get me alone during our cold weather training last year."

"Exactly my point," Lynn said. "You shot him down! He failed miserably and he nearly gave himself hypothermia."

"Not for lack of trying, Lynn. He just wasn't used to women saying no to him. Had it been someone other than me, it might have worked."

"Wouldn't have worked on me," Lynn said. "He came onto me a few times, too, you know." She suppressed a full body shudder. "That was a really gross experience."

"Honey, we're home!" Ron said as he ambled his way into the house with the crutches. Had it not been for the fact that Kim knew Team Ricochet had them under surveillance, he wouldn't have bothered with them in the first place. The door closed, Ron put the crutches against the wall, and he went over to give his lady a kiss. "How'd it go?"

"We kicked villain biscuit," Kim said. "Lynn and Miles are naturals."

"That is most definitely 'booyah' worthy! Wanna sign up for good?" Ron asked.

"What is it with you two trying to draft us?" Lynn laughed.

"We know talent when we see it," Kim said. "How'd it go with you?"

"Han said my name," Yori said happily.

"She's not to sure about the sister angle yet, though," Ron added.

"True. When Stoppable-sama told Han that I was her sister, she said 'KP sister. Yori not KP.'"

"Give her time, Yori," Kim said with a smile. "I've been around her a little more than you have. Although, her calling both of us 'sister' will get real confusing real quick."

"Just teach her the Japanese word for 'sister;' that'll solve the problem," Miles said.

"Speaking of problems, what about the sitch with Team Ricochet?" Ron took a seat beside Kim on the couch.

"Wade's poking around their computers, but we still don't know what all they're up to." Kim sighed.

"Why don't we just have Wade turn all Ricky's dirty little secrets over to the authorities and leave it at that?" Ron asked.

"Not admissible in court, Ron," Kim replied. "Even under the super villain statutes that are currently on the books, having someone hack into the files of another person or persons, even if they're suspected of having villainous intentions or connections, is so illegal without probable cause or a warrant. It would be as illegal as anything Rick's doing." It went without saying that Kim was acing her "Law and Super Villainy" class.

"Perhaps we should, how you say, return the favor," Yori said. "This Team Ricochet lured Stoppable-sama into a trap in an attempt to kill him. Perhaps we should lure them into a trap as well."

"What do we have that they want?" Lynn asked.

"Rick still wants a piece of me, unfortunately," Kim said with disgust. "And I'm sure Bengal would love some payback on Ron for taking him out with one punch."

"Yeah, I think he kinda got that when he shot me up with that muscle eating poison," Ron said, rubbing the bruised injection site on his neck.

The familiar tones of the Kimmunicator again sounded. "I might have something," Wade announced. "Someone just tried to hack into the central GJ database! It has the signature of the universal encryption matrix."

"Were you hacking GJ again?" Kim asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not this time, Kim," Wade proudly said. "Dr. Director asked me to do an audit of their firewalls and antivirus software. I just happened to be doing a check when I saw the intrusion. I followed it back to the source, and it's Team Ricochet."

"We now have probable cause," Kim smugly said. "Wade, get with Dr. Director and see if she could get the official OK for us to poke around in their system."

"Already got it, Kim," Wade said. "I'm legally snooping as we speak."

"You rock, Wade. Do you know what they're looking for?"

"The locations of Drew Lipsky and Josh Mankey. And before you ask, I already let Dr. Director know. They should be relocated within the hour."

"I think we just answered the question about what we have that they want," Miles noted. "We know where the Lipskys and Mankey are, and they want to know."

"Yeah, but it's not like we'd ever rat them out to Ricky-boy," Ron said, clearly confused.

The wheels in Kim's head were turning. "I think it's time we use Yori's trap idea." Kim turned her attention to the Kimmunicator. "Wade, I need you to get Dr. Director on the line. I'm gonna need her help setting up a sting operation."

"On it, Kim."

"Okay, KP," Ron said, going into his version of mission mode. "What's the plan?"

"If Team Ricochet wants to find Josh and Drew, then we'll let them find Josh and Drew." Kim had a sly grin on her face. "At least, we'll let them think it's Josh and Drew. Ron, I think it's time for you to dust off your mad mask making skills. All right, guys, here's the sitch..."

--

_Author's Note: I wish to acknowledge all those writers who have portrayed Sensei as Yori's grandfather, and who have portrayed Yori and Hana as sisters. They are too numerous to mention by name, and I didn't want anyone thinking that I was ripping them off. _


	6. Chapter 6

_Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

_This isn't what I signed on for,_ Anderson Collins thought. At one time he had been a part of the Supreme Combat Alliance. After he was kicked out for being too brutal during matches, he became an underground fighter. As Bengal, he was undefeated until he was knocked out in one punch by Ron Stoppable. Bengal knew he was a wanted criminal, and he knew one of the reasons Rick O'Shea broke him out of jail was to handle all of the illegal activities Team Ricochet was involved in that would require face to face contact, or if someone needed to get their hands dirty. He had been promised revenge against Stoppable, but even that had been taken from him. Yes he had injected Ron with a potentially deadly toxin, but Stoppable came out of it with minimal injury.

Now Bengal was on the roof of an office building in downtown Upperton, staking out the luxury hotel accross the street from him. Rick O'Shea wanted Josh Mankey and Drew Lipsky eliminated, and now Bengal was playing the part of hitman. _I'm not a killer,_ he growled to himself. _I've only killed twice in my life, and both times it was in the ring; both times it was an accident. I've only wanted to really kill someone once, and that was Stoppable. I even had that stolen from me._ Bengal had every intention of finding Stoppable and taking him out. If he was lucky, he would force Kim Possible to watch her betrothed breathe his last. It was thoughts like those that kept Bengal involved with this. Of course, the money wasn't bad, either.

Bengal had spent hours poring over encrypted data from the Global Justice database. Even with the ultimate encryption matrix, which was more than capable of decrypting information as well, it had taken the better part of two days to find this particular safe house. He still couldn't believe how stupid Global Justice was to place both Mankey and the Lipsky family on the same floor of the same hotel. _And they're supposed to be the experts. No wonder Possible always winds up having to save the day. Global Justice seems about as effective as a flat tire. _

Bengal's musings were interrupted by a series of beeps from the interior pocket of his leather trenchcoat. He took out a cell phone with a stylized letter "R" on the fold. "Yeah," he said when he answered.

"Anything?" Rick O'Shea asked on the other end of the line.

"I have a visual sighting on Mankey," Bengal reported. "Looks like he has company. A girl." Bengal was looking through a high powered telescope at one of the executive suites. There was Josh Mankey in animated conversation with a blonde woman in the main room. "You want me to take them both out?" Bengal was starting to feel like a common thug. "Because if you do, I must remind you that you didn't give me anything that I could use to do from a distance."

"Again with the sniper rifle. Bullets are traceable, Anderson," Rick replied.

"So are fingerprints," Bengal retorted.

"That's why you wear gloves and a mask. And your boots were custom made. They don't have an identifiable tread pattern. Go in there and, I don't know, break their necks or something. Then get out."

"What about Shego and the kid?"

"I don't care."

"I do care!" Bengal snapped. "I don't want Shego coming after me for killing her husband, and I will not harm a child or take his mother away from him."

"Just waste them all," Rick said in an off handed voice. "Then get back here."

"I thought you weren't a killer, O'Shea," Bengal said in a disgusted tone.

"I'm not the one doing the killing, Anderson, you are. Besides, desperate times call for desperate measures." With that, the line went dead.

"I'm not harming the kid or Shego," Bengal said to himself. He knew full well that Shego could rip him to shreds without even lighting up her plasma powers. He would have to do it without Shego seeing him. Bengal put the phone back in his pocket, and made sure that the ski mask and the knockout gas he brought were still in his other pocket. _Maybe I can just knock them all out and do the job quietly. After this is over, I'm done. O'Shea doesn't pay me enough for this crap._

_--_

Bengal didn't bother with the front door. He shot a zipline across the gap between the two buildings and slid across on a specialized pulley powered by compressed air. After picking the lock on one of the rooftop doors, he quietly slipped in and went straight for a stairwell. The stairs would take longer, but there was less of a chance that he'd be noticed by any guards. Bengal was just glad that Global Justice had made one of their classic blunders by placing his targets on the same floor of the same hotel. Apparently they were more concerned about convenience than practicality. What was convenient for them, having their charges in the same place, was also convenient for Bengal. With his targets in the same place, this wouldn't take long.

When Bengal emerged from the stairwell he saw a rather muscular man in a black suit standing guard at Mankey's door. Bengal pulled his mask into place and took a blowgun and dart from his coat pocket. Like the zipline pulley, the gun was powered by compressed air, giving it greater range than a standard blowgun. Bengal took careful aim and fired; the guard was unconscious in a matter of seconds. Still on full alert, Bengal slowly crept down the hall, keeping himself at the ready in case another guard were to appear.

Quickly and quietly Bengal picked the lock and slipped in the door like a ghost through a wall. Even though Mankey was powerless without his muscle ring, he had picked up a few fighting skills during his tenure with Team Ricochet, and Bengal didn't want any kind of drawn out fight. He would slip in, do the job, and slip out. He did regret having to kill the girl, though; she was quite attractive. Bengal saw Mankey sitting in one of the chairs, seemingly scrutinizing a half finished painting of Drakken, Shego, and their kid. He was about to pounce when he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head that sent him face first to the floor.

When his vision cleared, he saw both Mankey and the blond girl looking down at him. "H-how?" Bengal was barely able to form a coherent thought.

"The hunter has become the hunted," the blond girl said as she reached down and ripped the mask from Bengal's face. Something about her wasn't right, and it wasn't just the fact that she had a Japanese accent.

"Time to go back in your cage, tiger dude," Mankey added. His voice didn't sound right either. He almost sounded like...

"Stoppable?" Bengal didn't think he'd been hit _THAT_ hard. Then he saw Mankey tear his own face off, revealing Ron Stoppable's gloating mug.

"A-booyah."

Then he saw the blond girl do the same thing, revealing the face of a very attractive Japanese woman. "Stay down if you know what is good for you," she warned.

"It was a set up." He said it more to himself that to his assailants. That's when he noticed how Ron was standing. "Not as hurt as you made us think, were you? You knew we were watching."

"I would advise you to remain silent," Yori said.

Ron hit a few keys on his Ronlink. "We got him, guys. We're bringing him out now." Ron was about to pull Bengal to his feet when the former underground fighter shoved Ron and Yori back and bolted for the door. When he got back out in the hallway he was confronted by Drakken and Shego.

"It just gets better and better." Knowing that Drakken was the weaker fighter, Bengal lunged at the blue skinned man. _Get in close so he can't use those vines on me._ Much to Bengal's surprise, Drakken nailed him with a haymaker. As Bengal staggered back, he saw Drakken and Shego ripping their faces off, revealing the faces of Miles Walker and Lynn Corrigable. "Dammit," he hissed. Knowing he was grossly outnumbered, Bengal took off for the stairwell with Ron hot on his heels.

As Ron watched Bengal run for the roof, he got on the Ronlink. "Heads up, KP! He's coming right for you!"

--

Bengal ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The operation had gone south to the extreme, and he needed to get the hell out of there! When he burst through the door to the roof, he saw yet another obstacle; Kim Possible in full mission gear blocking his path to the zipline.

"Here's the sitch," she calmly said, "you're going to give up and tell me everything I want to know."

"If I don't?" he panted, out of breath from running up the stairs.

Kim cracked her knuckles. "We'll find out who the the real supreme combatant is."

Bengal sneered at his adversary. "You really think you can take me, little girl?"

"Bring it."

Bengal charged, the moment's rest he received enough to give him his second wind. He launched a series of punches and kicks; Kim blocked them all. Bengal backed off and charged at Kim again, but she never fought back. She merely blocked his attacks. "What, are you afraid of getting dirty? Or maybe you don't want to break a nail?" He was starting to breathe heavy.

"Nah," Kim retorted. "I just don't want to mess up your pretty face." Kim hadn't even broken a sweat.

By this point Ron and the others had made it to the roof, along with Agent Marissa Vance. "Shouldn't we do something?" Agent Vance asked.

Yori saw the determined look on Kim's face. "No. We leave her to her battle."

Miles couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're kidding, right?"

"I am not, Walker-san. Kim-san was wronged by this Bengal person. Now it is time for him to learn what his despicable actions have wrought."

Lynn wasn't buying it. "Ron, what's your take on this?"

"Yori's right," Ron said. "Let KP have this." He gave Lynn his famous lopsided grin. "It's all good. My lady's got it all under control."

"Under control" was an understatement. Kim wasted no movements against her opponent. He punched, she ducked. He kicked, she blocked. Never once did she press her advantage, never once did she go on the offensive. The whole time she wore a look of smug satisfaction. Yori could see the anger behind Kim's brilliant green eyes, but no rage. There was a desire to cause pain, but no murderous intent.

Bengal, on the other hand, was getting more uncontrollable by the second. "Why don't you fight back?! What, are you afraid of me? Is that it?" He threw another punch that Kim easily avoided. "The great Kim Possible is afraid of me! That makes this so much better!" Bengal's bravado didn't mask the fact that his attacks were getting weaker and that his breathing was getting heavier.

"How does it feel, Collins?" Kim taunted. "You just waste more energy and get more wiped out with every punch, while I'm still at full strength." She ducked a roundhouse kick. "Nothing you can do about it, either. It's so frustrating, isn't it? It's like a kitten with a toy mouse. And guess what, Collins; you're the mouse!"

Bengal snapped. He roared like his animal namesake and charged at Kim. She grabbed his outstretched arm and, using his momentum, threw him across the roof. He landed with a resounding "thud" that forced the remaining air from his lungs. He looked up at Kim, who was glaring over him like some angel of death. "Wh-what are y...you gonna do to me?" he struggled to say.

"You shocked me, kidnapped me, forced me to fight a dozen bloodthirsty thugs, and you probably would've at least crippled me if I had fought with you like you wanted," Kim growled through clenched teeth. "But worse than that, you tried to kill the man I love. You going after me I can deal with. But _no one_ goes after Ron!"

Kim let out a feral yell and threw her fist down at Bengal's face with the force of a runaway freight train. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for that last burst of pain before oblivion. It was a blow that never came. He slowly opened one eye and saw Kim's fist just a hair's breadth away from his nose. When he looked up at Kim, she was stangely calm. There was no inner conflict that Bengal could see. Just an odd serenity.

"Don't be surprised, Collins," she said as she withdrew her fist. "You're so not worth it. Besides, it'll be so much more satisfying to see you rot in prison for the rest of your life. After we take down your new boss, that is." Kim calmly stood and walked over to Ron Stoppable's waiting embrace. Agent Vance and Miles were there to take her place.

Miles dragged Bengal to his feet and Vance slapped the cuffs on him. "Anderson Collins," she said with a smirk, "welcome to the first day of the rest of your incarceration. Now, let's have a nice little chat about Richard O'Shea, shall we?"

"You're not getting me to squeal," Bengal growled.

"That sounded like a challenge," Vance said with delight. "I like a challenge."

--

Rick O'Shea was nervous. It had been well over an hour since Bengal last reported in. He knew Mankey wouldn't be any problem without his muscle enhancing ring, but he wasn't so sure about Shego. Rick glanced down at his cell phone. He could call Bengal, but that might draw attention to him if he was trying to be inconspiocuous.

"I take it you haven't heard anything from your little errand boy," Recoil said as she walked into Rick's office.

"Not a peep. I don't like this, Rebecca."

"I told you this was a bad idea. But no, you wouldn't listen to me. I've only come up with all of our plans that actually worked!" Rebecca Coyle was no newcomer to the criminal world. Her father had been a master thief, and her mother was an accomplished con artist and extrotionist. When Rick O'Shea first came to her about this little venture, it seemed like a good idea, especially since he promised to help get her father and older brother out of prison. Now that O'Shea's ineptitude had made itself known, she wasn't so sure sticking around would be in her best interests. Besides, sex with Rick wasn't that good. _It might be time to find a new job,_ she thought.

--

"Kidnapping, assault and battery, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit." Agent Vance sat across from Bengal at the table in the interrogation room of the Upperton Global Justice compound. "That's just within the last few months. You are looking at a ton of prison time here, Mr. Collins. But, if you tell me what I want to know about Richard O'Shea, it might help you out in the long run."

"Who says I know anything about this O'Shea guy?"

"How about the fact that you're carrying a Team Ricochet cell phone," Kim said, brandishing said communications device like a weapon. She flipped open the fold and looked at the call list. "And look at this, Rick was the last person who called you. Carrying an incriminating cell phone like this is such the rookie mistake."

"What's in it for me?" Bengal said, realizing that he was toast if he didn't cooperate.

"A lighter sentence in a Global Justice prison," Vance said. "That way your past opponents aren't as likely to come looking for you."

Bengal nodded at that. Underground fighters often landed themselves behind bars. He really didn't want to get jumped in the prison yard by a group of people he had nearly beaten to death. Bengal knew this was the best deal he could get. "What do you want to know?"

--

Kim smirked as she watched Bengal get led off to his cell. He just scowled at her. "You think you're all that, don't you, Possible?"

"I know, I've heard it all before. 'I think I'm all that but I'm not.' Better villains than you have told me that." She motioned for the guards to stop. "But I so beat you with only one punch that didn't even have to connect. If I'm not all that, what's that make you?"

Bengal looked like he was going to try to charge at her when Ron Stoppable walked up. "Not a good idea, cat dude. There's a ton of armed guards here, plus two people who took you down hard with minimal effort." Ron got a smug look on his face when he said that. "Or do you want to get schooled by the master again?" Ron let his eyes flicker blue. Bengal got the message and backed off.

Kim and Ron were joined by Lynn, Miles and Yori as Bengal was taken away. "What now?" Miles asked.

"Now we take the fight to Rick," Kim repsonded. "Agent Vance and Dr. Director are letting us take the lead on this sitch."

"So it is, how you say, payback time," Yori said with a slight grin.

"So, what then?" Lynn asked. "Do we set a trap for Rick and his bimbo like we did for that freak show reject, or do we break his door down and bust his pretty boy face up?"

Kim thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we do a little bit of both. Bengal's a liability now, and you just know that O'Shea will want to shut him up."

"I don't know about this, KP," Ron said a little uneasily. "I mean, we did the whole trap thing once and it worked, but isn't trying another one kinda pushing it?"

"Rick doesn't know we set a trap for Bengal, Ron," Lynn said. "Besides, he's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean."

"Recoil might be," Miles added.

"That's very true," Kim conceded. "But we really don't have much of a choice other than waiting for them to strike again. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so done with being on the defensive." Kim got Wade on the Kimmunicator.

"What's up, Kim?" the young genius asked.

"I need you to get Dr. Director on the line again, Wade. It's time to go Riccochet hunting."


	7. Chapter 7

_Disney owns the characters; I'm just taking them for a test drive._

--

"This has got to be one of the stupidest ideas I've ever been a part of," Rebecca Coyle, also known as Recoil from Team Ricochet, growled. "This is like something out of a bad spy movie, Rick! We're coming to meet with a couple of so called 'mercenary ninjas' in an old abandoned underground parking garage in the dead of night to hire them to take care of Bengal. While I'm glad you weren't dumb enough to have us come here in full uniform, I'm dying to know; what comic book did you cut their ad out of again?"

"I got their information from the central Global Justice database," Rick O'Shea, better known as Ricochet, explained for the thousandth time. "Apparently GJ has been after these two for a few years. They're supposed to be the best."

Recoil huffed. "If they're so good, then how come I've never heard of them before? And for that matter, why are they late?" Recoil stopped complaining when she felt the cold, sharp metal of a dagger being pressed up against her throat.

"We are not late," a calm female voice from behind her said. "We have been here for the last hour. To answer your question, though, we are good enough to sneak up on two so called heroes and take them by surprise." The unseen woman removed her blade from the vicinity of Recoil's jugular vein.

"You must be Hiromi," Ricochet said with a grin. The woman was wearing what could only be described as a high tech ninja uniform. It was black and form fitting, something Ricochet noticed immediately. All that was visible of her was the area immediately around her eyes. When Hiromi's companion, a wiry man wearing an identical outfit to hers, saw the way Ricochet was leering at her, he stepped forward and held his bo like a quarterstaff, blocking Ricochet from advancing further.

"Please excuse my friend," the Japanese woman said. "He does not take kindly to anyone giving me any unwanted attention."

"Why didn't he say anything instead of just busting in?" Recoil was liking this less and less with each passing moment. When they jumped Stoppable a couple of weeks ago, he had used the word "trappish." That's how this whole sitch felt to Recoil.

"He cannot. His throat was slit some years ago. His vocal chords were severed." The man peeled away his mask, revealing a hard faced caucasian man with shoulder length black hair and a matching goatee. He pulled down his collar, showing Team Ricochet the long jagged scar going from one end of his neck to the other. When Hiromi saw the two "heroes" shudder, she smiled. "If you think that is unpleasant, you should see what Marshall did to his attackers."

"We, uh, that's not necessary," Recoil stammered.

Ricochet was again leering. "We saw his face, how about yours?" Without argument, Hiromi removed her mask, revealing a middle aged Japanese woman with very short black hair that had a stripe of grey going down the middle. "You're beautiful."

Recoil rolled her eyes. _Get your mind out of your shorts, _she silently chided.

"And not interested," Hiromi said without hesitation. That made Recoil chuckle. "I do not get involved with clients or potential clients. Besides, you are not my type. You are much too young for my taste. We have unmasked as a gesture of good faith, Ricochet. Do not make us regret it. Now, your message said that you had a job for us. You will understand my... reluctance to undertake any mission you have for us. After all, you are the good guys. At least, that is what you wish the world at large to think."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ricochet was never one for games.

Hiromi's expression never changed. "Richard Jackson O'Shea, son of Bradley and Audrey O'Shea. Your mother died of pancreatic cancer when you were twelve years old, and your father is currently awaiting trial for trafficking contraband technology. Technology, I might add, that you yourself have been utilizing in both your public and private operations."

Ricochet's mouth was hanging wide open in surprise. Recoil, meanwhile, was laughing her head off.

"I would not find that so humorous if I were you, Rebecca Janine Coyle," Hiromi continued. "The youngest of two children, your parents are Mitchell and Aria Coyle. Your father is serving fifteen years to life in federal prison for grand theft and assault, and your mother is wanted in twenty seven states for extortion. Your brother Jason is currently serving a life sentence in Washington state for aggravated murder. You yourself have quite the juvenile record. Although it was sealed, we have been able to view it."

Recoil looked as though she were about to kill these two ninja with her bare hands. Ricochet pulled her back. "Impressive," he said. "How do you know all this?"

"It is our business to know. Do you still wish to hire us? Be warned, if we feel at any time that we are being double crossed, you will not live to regret it."

--

"This is stupid, Rick!" Recoil said as she slumped into the couch in Rick's office. "Aside from what Global Justice said about these two, we don't know jack about them! How do we know that this isn't some kind of trap?"

"Who would set a trap for us?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe Global Justice! Or Kim Possible!"

"How would any of them know what we've been up to?"

Recoil fought the urge to smack Ricochet upside the head. "Bengal, stupid! You really think he's going to just keep his mouth shut? God, you're dumber than I thought!"

"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I've been in the criminal game a lot longer than you have, Rick!" she chided. "You don't take anyone at face value! How do you know that these ninjas won't sell you out the first chance they get? Or that Bengal hasn't already? Hell, how do you know that _I _won't sell you out?"

Ricochet smirked. "I know you won't betray me."

"Oh please," Recoil snorted. "Get over yourself, Rick; you're not that good."

"Not that good?"

It was Recoil's turn to smirk. "I've had a lot better. Don't feel bad, though, I've had worse, too. At least I've never faked it with you." Recoil took a seat on the leather couch. "Getting back to the business at hand, I still say we can't trust these two. It feels like we're running face first into a brick wall."

"According to GJ-"

"To hell with GJ!" Recoil shrieked. "I'm telling you, Rick, they're up to something. They could have faked the files on those ninjas just for us to find them!"

"They don't know we're in their system, Rebecca."

"How did they catch Bengal if they don't know we're in their system?"

"Better security than he was expecting," Ricochet replied. "He was a thug, not a tactician."

"Then why did you send him in there in the first place? Now he's gonna sing like a canary!"

"That's why we have the ninjas. They'll shut him up before he can sing."

"Unless he's already sold us out." Recoil stood up, took her Team Ricochet cell phone out of her pocket, and dropped it on the couch. "Sorry, Rick, but you're on your own. I quit."

"If you quit, then you can forget about your dad and your brother ever getting out of prison!"

"I'm resourceful, Rick, I'll find something. Maybe I'll sign up with a real super villain next time. I'm through with amateurs. See you around, O'Shea."

--

"According to my surveillance Recoil just left Team Ricochet HQ, Kim," Wade Load said from the Sloth's Kimmunicator screen. "And it looks like she's not carrying her standard issue cell phone."

"Are you sure about that, Wade?" Lynn Corrigible asked from the passenger's seat. She and Kim were sitting in a parking stall a block away from the GJ stronghold.

"Positive, Lynn," the young genius replied. "Their phones have a rather unique energy signature from their batteries. Well, actually they're specialized power cells that can go for about a year without needing to be recharged, but you knew what I meant."

"So does that mean she's breaking her ties with O'Shea?" Kim asked. If that was the case, it made things a lot easier.

"Could be. Unfortunately, I didn't think about having Yori leave any spy bugs behind when she planted the code breaker disc. I'll keep an eye on her."

"Please and thank you, Wade." Kim closed the channel.

"Well, Kim, now what?"

"We play the waiting game, Lynn." Kim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "And we keep hoping that Rick's as predictable as we think he is. We're so going out on a limb on this one."

--

Rick O'Shea rarely heard the word "no" from a woman he was interested in going to bed with; now he was hearing it almost constantly. First from Kim Possible when they were with Fast Track and she constantly refused his advances, then from Lynn Corrigable the few times he got her alone, and now from that ninja Hiromi. And then there was Recoil. He'd never been walked out on before, and he certainly didn't like it. _She'll be back,_ he thought. _There's no way any super villain will take her seriously after her run as a 'hero.' _

An alert tone from the computer built into his desk caught his attention. The ninja were starting their assault on the Upperton Global Justice stronghold.

--

The two ninja hugged the shadows as they silently inched their way down the long hallway. Their target was just down the hall in a standard holding cell. Before they reached their destination, they were stopped by Miles Walker. "End of the line," he said.

"Greetings, Walker-san," Hiromi said. "I would bow, but we are being watched." Instead she crouched into a fighting stance.

"I know this has to look good, Yori, but don't make it look too good."

"As I promised Corrigible-san, I will endeavor to not hurt you. Too badly." Miles could almost see her smirk under her masks.

--

"Break in at the GJ stronghold, Kim!" Wade announced. "Good thing you didn't go too far."

"We had to make it look good," Kim agreed. She turned on the car and gunned the engine. "We should be there in about three minutes. You ready, Lynn?"

"I think so," Lynn replied. "I just hope Yori doesn't mess Miles up too badly. Or me, when we get there."

"She keeps her word, Lynn," Kim said. "Let's just hope we can make this look believable. Wade, you're sure that Rick's watching?"

"Oh yeah, he's watching all right!"

--

Rick O'Shea watched intently from the monitor screen built into his desk. "Too bad there's no sound," he mused to himself. "Aw well. I don't have any popcorn anyway." He watched as his former teammate and roommate Miles Walker confronted the ninja and exchanged pleasantries with them. "It was nice knowing you, Walker," he chuckled. Suddenly, Hiromi launched a blindingly fast attack that knocked Miles to the side. She continued to pummel her opponent while her silent companion hurried to Bengal's holding cell. He was intercepted by Kim and Lynn well before he got there.

"Oh look who came out to play!" he exclaimed when he saw Kim. "I really hope he doesn't rough them up too much," Rick said. "I could still have fun with those two."

--

Kim and Marshall fought like they were in a choreographed dance, which is exactly what it was. She punched, he blocked. He kicked, she parried. It was as if they were reading each other's minds. But then again, after almost a lifetime of friendship followed by over two years of being romantically involved, it was expected that Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable could read each other like a book.

"You've been practicing," she teased. "Have you been sparring with Yori behind my back?" She would have mock pouted, but she didn't want it to look like she was enjoying herself.

"Even the master can stand to learn some new tricks," the disguised Ron Stoppable replied in a sage voice. "Just don't ever tell Mr. Barkin I said that. I do have an image to uphold."

Kim launched a roundhouse kick at Ron's head. She missed, but he jumped to the side as if he was hit, just to keep up appearances. "Don't worry, sweetie, my lips are sealed."

Yori and Lynn faced off. "It's getting to be time to end this, isn't it?" Lynn asked. She really wasn't looking forward to this.

"Hai," Yori replied. "I will miss, and you will fall. Ready?"

"Not really, no. I was never good at the whole stage combat thing." But she went for it anyway. Yori threw a punch at Lynn's face and missed with half an inch to spare. Lynn's head theatrically snapped back with the phantom impact and she went down.

--

Rick was really wishing he had some popcorn now. Kim Possible get her clock cleaned was better than any action movie he had ever seen. The ninja called Marshall had gone down, but got up again and knocked Kim up against a wall. Hiromi had taken out both Lynn and Miles, and now there was nothing between them and Bengal. Marshall busted down the door to the holding cell and went in.

Rick hit a few buttons on the touch screen, but he couldn't get an image from the camera inside the cell. Finally, the ninja known as Marshall came out, dragging the limp form of Anderson Collins for his companion to examine. Rick saw that the Bengal's head was hanging at an impossible angle. When Rick figured out why, all color drained from his face. Anderson Collins was dead; his neck had been broken. Rick darted for the bathroom that adjoined his office and threw his guts up.

While Rick was losing his dinner, the ninja were getting ready to depart. They left the body in the hallway, but gathered up the seemingly unconscious forms of Team Possible. They scrambled out as fast as they could, barely missing the agents who were supposed to be guarding Bengal.

--

Half an hour and a bottle of antacid later, Rick O'Shea was again in the abandoned parking garage where he first met with the two ninja. This was the agreed upon rendevous point where they would meet following the successful completion of the mission. Rick was very pale. This was different from when he took Stoppable down. He had no intentions of killing the man who was keeping Kim Possible from his bed; Rick just wanted to hurt him very, very badly.

Rick had ordered the deaths of Drew Lipsky and Josh Mankey, but nothing had come of that. He had ordered Bengal's death, and this time the hit was carried out; this time he saw the body. He was just grateful that he didn't see it in person. He was fighting to keep what little was left in his stomach down when a nondescript van pulled up and the ninja dragged their fallen prey out the side door. "What the hell is this?" Rick demanded.

"An opportunity," Hiromi replied as she and her companion pulled off their ninja masks. "I know that your group and Kim Possible's have been rivals. With her gone, you will have no more competition. Besides, there is no guarantee that she would not come for us one day. Consider this a bonus. For us."

"Meaning?"

"We want an additional twenty thousand for delivering Team Possible to you."

"Twenty thousand?" Rick coughed. "Why should I pay you that much? This isn't all of them!"

"Their weapons supplier is but a child," Hiromi said. "We do not attack children. Even we have our ethics."

"What about the sidekick? He's not here."

"What good is he?" Hiromi asked. "I do not even remember his name. He seems harmless enough. I doubt that him coming after us will be that big of an inconvenience."

"He took me out with one punch," Rick protested. "Same thing with Bengal. He's tougher than he looks."

"I sincerely doubt that," Hiromi said in a dismissive tone. "Marshall killed Bengal without so much as breaking a sweat. No offense to you, but you do not appear to be a fierce warrior. I am not worried about Kim Possible's junior sidekick."

Rick didn't like his skills being dismissed that way, but he couldn't argue with what was right in front of him. He slowly approached the sprawled forms of Kim, Miles and Lynn. "Omega 12 together again," he said. "What was it we used to say, 'No one messes with Omega 12?' Maybe only Omega 12 can mess with Omega 12." He crouched down and gently lifted Kim's limp body into his arms. "We could've been magic together, Kimmie," he said in a thoughtful voice. "All you had to do was give in and say yes. All I wanted was one night with you, but you just had to be faithful to some loser who would never have known. You missed out, Kimmie."

Kim's brilliant green eyes shot open suddenly and she nailed Rick with a devestating right cross which knocked him over. "No, I'd say I was dead on."

As Rick struggled to his feet, he saw Lynn and Miles fully conscious and looking at him defiantly, with Hiromi and Marshall doing nothing to restrain them. "What are you two doing? Take them down!"

"It is, how you say, a set up," Hiromi proudly said. She reached into her collar and pulled up on a flap of skin, removing a very lifelike mask and revealing the face of the young Japanese woman who had been at Stoppable's bedside when they went to cure him.

Rick was in shock. "It really was a trap?"

"Nothing gets by you, dude." Rick turned his astonished gaze to Marshall, who was supposed to be mute. Then he saw the ninja pull his face off, revealing the smug face of Ron Stoppable. "Man, you have been so played it's not even funny!" As if to seal the deal, Rufus scampered out from a puch on Ron's belt and onto his person's shoulder. The naked mole rat pointed at Rick and laughed hysterically.

"You should have listened to Recoil," Yori said in a matter of fact tone. "She never trusted us."

"But then again, we figured she was the real brains of the operation," Miles said.

"But don't worry, Rick," Kim taunted, "you'll be seeing her again real soon."

"Yup," Lynn added. "GJ picked her up over an hour ago. She's just a few cells down from Bengal. Who's alive and well, by the way."

"The body you saw was an old crash test dummy wearing one of Ron's masks," Miles said. "You bought into this hook, line, and sinker."

"We know all your dirty little secrets, Rick," Kim said. "We know you're behind D. Carter Knokod, that you tried to get Drew Lipsky and Josh Mankey to take the fall for your crimes, and we know it was your poison that almost killed Ron. You are going away for a very long time. And all this was because I wouldn't sleep with you? That goes way beyond pathetic, Rick."

Rick looked like he was about to strike, but instead he did the smarter thing. He ran as hard and as fast as his legs would carry him. Kim was after him in an instant with Ron and the others hot on her heels. Rick came to a dead end just as Team Possible caught up with him. He was breathing heavily and he quite literally had his back against the wall.

"It's all over, Rick," Miles said. "Why don't you just give up and we'll make this nice and easy."

"I'm not taking the fall for this!" Rick yelled. "You hear me? I'm not going down for this!" He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small object.

"Whatever you have in your hand, drop it," Lynn warned.

"Or what? None of you are packing any kind of heat." Rick showed them the gold ring in his hand. "While I, on the other hand, _AM_ the heat!" Rick slipped the ring on his finger and his body immediately started to expand, his muscles blowing up like balloons. The fabric of his shirt stretched and ripped as his body continued to change. As soon as his transformation was finished, he looked at his adversaries with a murderous gleam in his eyes. "You shouldn't have made me angry," he taunted. "You're not gonna like me when I'm angry."

Rick charged at Team Possible like an angry rhino, making them scatter in different directions. Rick went straight for Kim. "This is your fault, Kim! You kept shooting me down and you helped ruin my family name! Now you're gonna _PAY!!"_

_It's the same kind of ring Josh had,_ Kim thought. _It's making him irrational along with making him stronger. So not a good combination. But maybe I can use his size against him._

Before Kim could formulate a strategy, Lynn and Miles jumped Rick from both sides and were immediately thrown off. Lynn hit the ground hard, and Miles went right into a wall. They were both down for the count. Ron and Yori immediately rushed to the aid of their fallen comrades.

"I took almost half of your team out already, Kimmie!" Rick bellowed. "You can't win!"

"I got him, KP!" Ron shouted. His eyes were already glowing a violent blue.

"No, Ron, he's mine! I so owe this scum bag!"

"But, Kim-" Yori stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"She deserves this battle, Ron-sama," Yori said. "This fool has wronged her on countless occasions. He insulted her, her honor, and you. He attempted to destroy you, and then he attempted to prey on Kim-san in a perceived time of weakness. He has no honor. His defeat at Kim-san's hands is more than deserved. Trust her as she trusts you, Ron-sama. She can do this."

He didn't like it, but Ron stood down. He watched as Kim easily dodged Rick's lumbering form. His tree stump like arms flailed wildly, trying to connect, but Kim was just too fast. "That extra mass is slowing you down, Ricochet! I doubt you'd live up to your name right now, would you?"

"Hold still so I can pound you!"

"So not happening, O'Shea." Kim rushed in swept Rick's legs out from under him, sending him crahing to the ground like a ton of bricks.

"Booyah!" Ron exclaimed. "Or should I say, timber!"

"So the cheerleader has her own squad, huh?" Rick struggled to his feet.

"Ron _was_ the mascot before he became the star of the football team," Kim quipped. As soon as Rick was standing again, Kim aimed a punch at his face. Rick panicked and ducked, which let Kim nail him in the chin with her knee, sending him backwards.

"That extra muscle isn't helping you, Rick. You can't win. Just give it up, already."

"Like you said," Rick panted, "so not happening!" He lunged at Kim like a charging bull. Kim stood her ground and, at the last possible second, ducked out of the way allowing Rick to run head first into a support beam. Rick stumbled back in a daze, giving Kim the opening she needed. She swiped the ring off of Rick's finger.

"It's done, Rick," she said as he reverted to normal. "You lost." Kim got on the Kimmunicator and called Wade. "He's down, " she said. "Have Agent Vance come in with the cuffs."

Kim looked over at her fallen friends. Lynn and Miles were coming around, and Yori was helping them to sit up. Ron was on his way over to Kim's side. Rick saw this and staggered to his feet.

"Don't try anything stupid, Rick," Kim warned.

"What, you mean like this?" Rick charged at Ron full steam. Ron didn't move. He simply stuck his foot out and tripped Rick as he went by. Rick shot up in a fury and again charged at Ron, howling like a feral beast all the while. Rick didn't wait to see what Ron was doing, and ran face first into Ron's waiting fist; Rick's vision exploded into a field of stars as he heard the cartilage crunch. "By doze!" he shrieked as he clamped his hands over his now profusely bleeding proboscis. "You broge by dose agaid! I'll _KILL YOU!!"_

"No you won't," came the steady reply from Agent Vance. "Richard O'Shea, you're under arrest. Can we get a medic over here? I don't want this guy bleeding all over my upholstery."

"Man," Miles chuckled. "I can't believe he fell for that same trick twice!"

"Yup," Ron grandly smirked. "The Ron-man strikes again! No pompous jerk's nose is safe from me!"

"That's my Ron; the scourge of nacos and jerk noses," Kim said with a grin.

"Oooooh nacos! Good call, KP! Let's go hit the Bueno for a victory feast!"

--

The expanded Team Possible stood silently at the curb of the Possible-Stoppable abode. It was time to say goodbye, and Yori was loading her lone piece of luggage into the trunk of a waiting taxi cab. "I will see you in May for the wedding Ron-sama," she said, right before kissing Ron's cheek.

"What, no 'Stoppable-sama' this time?" Lynn asked.

"I have been accepted as a part of Ron-sama's family," Yori said happily. "It is rude to address family by surname. Is that not right, Kim-san?"

Kim came up to Yori and hugged her. "Totally."

"We'll see you in May," Miles said, bowing to his new friend.

"But you're coming back before the wedding," Lynn added. "I have two words for you, Yori: 'bachelorette party!'"

"This bachelorette party, is it a dignified gathering?" Yori asked, a little concerned about Lynn's enthusiasm.

"With Monique in charge of it, probably not," Ron quipped, earning him a jab in the ribs from his fiancee.

"Hey, just wait'll you see what Felix and I have in store for your bachelor party, bud," Miles smirked.

"Everyone please remember that there are minors in our parties," Kim said. "I doubt Wade or Joss could get into some of the places you're planning on dragging us to."

Lynn and Miles looked at eachother, stifled a laugh, and dropped the subject.

"Okay, I don't like that," Ron said nervously.

"That makes two of us."

"You sure you don't want to share a cab to the airport, Yori?" Miles asked.

"I am sure, Walker-san. I must go to the gate for international flights. It is better this way." Miles and Lynn had no idea that the cab driver was really a ninja graduate from Yamanuchi who would be taking Yori to meet a hyper sonic jet that would return her to Japan.

"Take care," Lynn said.

"I shall, Corrigable-san. You as well."

As the cabs pulled away, Kim, Ron, and Rufus stood at the foot of their driveway. "I guess that's over, now, isn't it, KP? No more O'Shea trouble."

"With two counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, along with harboring a known fugitive and possession of villain tech hanging over his head, not to mention all the stuff Wade found in Rick's database, I seriously doubt he'll have an easy time mounting a defense. And he burned way too many bridges to have anyone try to break him out." Kim got a wicked smile on her face. "Besides, with Josh's testimony, as well as Recoil and Bengal turning on him, I don't think we'll see Rick O'Shea again for a long time."

"It sure is gonna be lonely here now," Ron mused. "I mean, we have an empty house now."

"That's so true," Kim replied in a sulty voice. "Whatever shall we do to pass the time?"

"Uh oh," Rufus squeaked. With company over for the last few weeks, he didn't have to worry too much about his people deciding they wanted their special alone time. On those few occasions when they did, they weren't as...enthusiastic about it as they usually were; they didn't want to wake Yori up, after all. It looked like that reprieve was now over.

"I have a few ideas," Ron said as he waggled his eyebrows.

"I certainly hope so, Ron. Race you inside!"

--

Josh Mankey walked out the front door of the Lipsky home with a spring in his step. He had delivered the apology portrait he'd painted for them, and even though Global Justice had placed him on probation for the next three years for his inviolvement with Team Ricochet, and were keeping tabs on him with a sub-dermal tracking chip, life was good. Actually, it was the best it had been in a long time.

Tara King was waiting for him; her blue hatchback parked by the curb. They had spent a lot of time together over the last few weeks. Even though they had agreed to give being friends a shot, it hadn't quite worked out that way. _We didn't pick up where we left off,_ Josh happily thought. _This is better. There's a real connection there this time. _Josh smiled as Tara waved at him. _Sometimes you do get a second chance._

"All done, honey?" Tara asked before giving her guy a kiss.

"Yup. Where to next?"

"We're meeting with Kim and Ron at about six at their place," she replied. "Ron's cooking up one of his masterpieces to show that there's no hard feelings."

Josh chuckled at that. "I tried to steal his fiancee and I lured him into a potentially life threatening trap. And here he is willing to just put it all aside and make us dinner."

"That's Ron for you," Tara said. "He's weird, but we like him."

--

"I mean, he had the blue skin and the cool lair and the hot babe working for him; I thought he was the greatest!" the dark haired man Rick was forced to share a cell with gushed. "But then he had to go straight. Can you believe that? A great villain like Dr. Drakken is now a law abiding family man. It's such a waste."

"Will you please shut up?" Rick nearly sobbed. He was sitting on his bunk with his pillow wrapped around his head in a vain attempt to drown out Frugal Lucre's inane babbling. _Why did I have to wind up here? I think I'd rather share a cell with Chief Agent Mann or my dad at Fort Campbell than have to deal with this. _To Rick's surprise, Global Justice made sure the incarcerated members of Team Ricochet were nowhere near each other. Bengal was in Fort Campbell, Recoil was in a secret holding facility in the Rocky mountains, and Rick was here with the other super villain riff raff just outside Middleton.

"But you," Lucre continued, "you had a great plan! A bad guy pretending to be a good guy? That's genius right there!"

"Stop talking!" Rick wimpered. "I'm begging you, Lucre, for the love of God stop talking!"

"But I do think you spent way too much money on most of those gadgets! Jack Hench isn't the only game in town, you know. You could get the same stuff at the Despot Depot for half the price."

Try as he might, Rick O'Shea was unable to block out Lucre's constant prattling. Rick closed his eyes and tried to remember the good times, while another shred of his sanity was ripped away from him by a man who once tried to destroy the internet with a can of expired Vienna sausages. _This has to count somewhere as cruel and unusual punishment..._

--

_I give you a finished story! Big thanks going out to Sacred White Phoenix, Donteatacowman, Zaratan, Sentinal103, CajunBear73, MrDrP, Michael Howard, Shrike176, Comet Moon, Katsumara, Screaming Phoenix, and Muzzlehatch for taking the time to drop a review, and a huge thanks going out to everyone who read this. _


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